Behind the Mask
by kazavid
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon encounters a part of his past that he thought he had come to terms with.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 1 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content later chapters  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

BEHIND THE MASK

Chapter 1

Scanning the surrounding area, Sheppard took note of their position, they had chosen a good place to wait. The forest area was huge, the trees, rose high into the canopy creating a dark, almost surreal, atmosphere beneath. The foliage growing beneath the canopy, was dense, this would provide good cover, if they needed it. They were situated on a slight incline, which gave them the perfect position to see anyone coming along the path.

Sheppard, and his team, were waiting to meet up with a tracker. This tracker, was someone who knew where the Ancient Outpost was. Or so they had been told, by Mallick, a local guy, who had made the arrangements in the first place.

Ronon prowled around the area watching and listening, waiting for someone, or something, to catch his attention, anything that would require him to investigate. He hated all this hanging around, doing nothing, he liked the adrenalin rush of conflict.

Teyla was sitting down on a fallen tree, next to McKay, who was unusually quiet at the moment. She was trying to engage Rodney in some conversation but he was too engrossed in his laptop, so she gave up and turned back to survey her surroundings.

Sheppard, was leaning his back against a tree, his eyes scanning the distant pathway, watching for anyone coming their way. But he wasn't exactly sure from which way this guy would be coming.

"You think this guy's gonna show up?" Ronon asked Sheppard.

Sheppard turned to look at Ronon, "There's no reason he shouldn't show up, Mallick said this guy was eager to trade with us." he looked at his watch, "It's only been an hour, lets give him a few more minutes before we give up." he turned back to continue watching the pathway.

Ronon, looked at Sheppard, his 'I'm fed up' expression didn't go amiss, but there wasn't anything Sheppard could do about that. Ronon returned to his prowling. It was only a few minutes later, when Ronon caught sight of someone on the path.

"Someone's coming." Ronon said, and immediately vanished in to the trees. Sheppard, focused his eyes along the path and could just make out a shape moving in their direction, as it got closer, Sheppard realised that there were two figures.

He turned back to look for Ronon, but he'd vanished, gone to check out the visitors before they reached Sheppard, and the others.

As they drew closer, Shepard saw that both men where armed. He also saw that one of the men wore something over his face. He didn't like that, and nor would Ronon. The men stopped, just in front of Sheppard.

Sheppard, had his gun in sight, ready to use, but it was lowered, a veiled threat to anyone who was thinking of doing anything. Sheppard noticed, that the man wearing the face mask, also had his gun lowered, and like himself, was ready to use it.

"You Sheppard?" the tall, black haired man asked, nodding to Sheppard.

"Yes, you the tracker?" Sheppard queried.

"Yes, Mallick said you were looking to find this Ancient Outpost. And that you would be willing to trade, if I showed you the way."

"Yes, were willing to trade with you, but we need to find the Outpost first." Sheppard, wanted to make sure they were shown to the real Ancient Outpost, before he handed anything over to anyone.

The black haired tracker looked at Sheppard, weighing up whether to trust Sheppard or not. Sheppard was doing the same thing, but the one thing that was making Sheppard hesitate, was the second tracker, the guy wearing the mask over his face.

Sheppard took a calculating look at these guys, the black haired trackers age was probably, late twenties, mid thirties. He was as tall as Sheppard, but maybe a little heavier, and he looked more muscular. The second guy was much harder to fathom. The face mask he wore, was very distracting. Although it wasn't actually a mask, more like a large visor, it looked like it was moulded over the face. The only thing you could see when you looked at the mask were the reflections of your surroundings, or your own face. He looked thinner and smaller than the first tracker, but with the loose fitting clothes he wore it was hard to judge.

"I'm Sean, and this is Hunter." the black haired tracker said, introducing himself, and his friend, to Sheppard. Sean held his hand out, Sheppard hesitated at first, but relented and took hold of Sean's hand, and shook it.

Sean, couldn't help but notice how Sheppard was looking at Hunter.

"Do you have a problem with Hunter?" Sean asked Sheppard outright. Then waited for the usual response he got.

Sheppard, still staring at Hunter, turned to look at Sean, '_well if they were being honest, Sheppard thought,'_ so he told him what the problem was.

"I don't like not knowing who I'm with." Sheppard said, his eyes, focusing on the mask Hunter wore.

Sean and Hunter had encountered this problem before, not many people liked not being able to see someone else's face. Sean himself, had admitted that if it were him, confronted by someone with a mask, he also would not like it. But Sean also knew Hunter wore the mask for a reason, protection. In this world, there were disadvantages as well as advantages as to who or what you were. And Hunter found it safer to get around wearing the mask, letting everyone think what they wanted. Sean had learned to ignore Hunters peculiar habits, but every so often they encountered this type of problem.

"Look, you're hiring me, Hunter is my main tracker, he's one of the best. So if it's a problem that he wears a face covering, don't hire us, find someone else, it's your choice." Sean gave Sheppard a look that said, the mask issue was not up for negotiation, Sheppard pondered this, could he accept this guy without even seeing his face. Sean waited for Sheppard to respond.

Sheppard realised that they didn't have much choice, they needed to find that Ancient Outpost, so he conceded.

"Fine, your hired." Sheppard told Sean.

"Alright, when do you want to get started." Sean asked, relieved that Sheppard still wanted to hire them.

Hunter, who had been quietly surveying the others and the surrounding area, suddenly pulled his gun up and pointed it towards the trees.

Everyone reacted, Teyla pulled her gun out and pointed it towards Hunter. McKay sat there, eyes wide and wasn't sure whether to move, or stay where he was. He decided to stay where he was, any movement at this precise moment might attract someone's attention, thus incurring a bullet to his person. Sheppard, who also had his gun ready, tried to calm the situation down.

"There's someone out there." Hunter said, the voice was strangely modulated, not real, artificial.

"It's just one of my men, who's been scouting around the area." Sheppard told them."Ronon, get out here!" Sheppard shouted.

Ronon, came looming out of the trees, blaster, pointing and ready to fire. Ronon was aiming the blaster at Hunter, and his look was very intimidating. Hunter, stood his ground, but only Sean noticed the slight lowering of Hunter's gun, and the subtle change in his stance. Something was wrong, Sean realised, something was bothering Hunter, specifically, something about this Ronon guy.

"Ronon, take it easy, put the gun down." Sheppard told him, but Ronon wasn't listening just yet, his adrenaline was pumping and he was eager for a confrontation, he just continued to stare at Hunter.

Sean, like Sheppard, also tried to calm the situation down, trying to get Hunter to lower his weapon. Hunter took a few seconds to realise what Sean was asking, he lowered his gun. Ronon seeing this, lowered his gun, but still continued to stare daggers at Hunter.

Sheppard ignored Ronon's aggressive stance, for he understood Ronon's dislike of the guy.

"So, how about we get started now, no time like the present. We can use the Puddle Jumper, make things a little more easier." Sheppard said, smiling, ignoring Ronon and Hunter who seemed intent on intimidating the hell out of each other.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 2 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content later chapters  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 2

"Puddle Jumper?" Sean queried, not understanding what Sheppard was talking about.

"It's a space ship, we use it to get around, saves on the leg work." he explained.

"Sorry, but you can't use a space ship to find the Ancient Outpost." Sean told him.

"Why not?" Sheppard wanted to know.

"We have to follow the signs, and you wouldn't be able to see them from a space ship."

McKay, hearing this, suddenly piped in.

"You mean we'll have to walk, how far exactly is this place." he demanded.

"I'm not too sure." Sean admitted.

"What do you mean you're not too sure, I thought you knew where it was." McKay asked,

petulantly.

"I do know where it is, but it's been over 16 years since I was there. I know what signs to look for, but I'm not too sure of the distance." Sean told McKay.

"Fine, then shouldn't we get going," McKay, said flippant, he walked away, then he turned to look at Sean, and added, "seeing as we don't know know how long it will take us to get there."

"McKay, be nice now." Sheppard warned Rodney.

Rodney just looked at Sheppard and gave a snort or disgust. He turned back to continue walking away and was confronted by Hunter and Ronon, who, it seems, were still intent upon some sort of confrontation with each other, even though they'd never met. Rodney hesitated a second, then decided to go around them, he didn't want to get between these two Neanderthals.

Ronon didn't like it one bit, hated, that he couldn't see the other man's face. He continued to stare at this Hunter guy, staring right at the face covering, right where Hunters eyes would be. Hunter was much smaller in height and build, than Ronon, but Ronon knew a fighting stance when he saw one. And this guy was surely trained in combat, he could tell from the way he held himself.

Behind the face mask Hunter watched Ronon, and was ever so thankful that Ronon couldn't see who he was really looking at. Hunter remembered the last time that they had looked at each other like this, it had been 'all out war', and Hunter wasn't in the mood to start another one. '_If Ronon only knew who he was staring at, he wouldn't be so restrained, Hunter thought, well hopefully he never would know who was behind the mask'._

"We'll have to get some supplies." Sean told Sheppard.

"No need to, we have plenty, enough to last several days."

"Fine, then shall we get started." Sean said.

"Lead the way." Sheppard said, waving his hand in the direction of the path.

"Hunter, you take point." Sean told him, pointing towards the forest.

Hunter walked ahead of everyone else and started to carefully, watch for the signs that Sean had mentioned. Hunter immediately became aware of Ronon, who was off the path and moving through the trees, probably keeping an eye on the strangers. Hunter smiled, _still the same old Ronon, distrustful of everyone and everything._

Ronon kept a close eye on Hunter, and continued to scout around the area, for any dangers. One thing Ronon noticed was Hunters tracking techniques, they were very similar to his own, that was something in the guys favour, Ronon, reluctantly admitted.

The thick foliage and tall trees made it seem much darker, they blocked out a lot of light. Hunter would have to be even more vigilant looking for these signs. They had only been walking for a short while, when Hunter found the first one.

"Sean, I got one of your signs here." that modulated, computerised voice, rang out.

Both Sean and Sheppard ran over to where Hunter stood, and examined the small symbol cut into the tree.

"Is it one of the signs?" Sheppard asked Sean, it certainly looked Ancienty, Sheppard thought as he looked at the symbol.

"Yes, it's the first symbol, showing us which way to take."

"And which way is that?" Sheppard asked.

"That way." Sean said, pointing further in to the forest.

There was no visible path in that direction, so they would have to go right through the dense foliage.

"You mean we have to walk through all that stuff," McKay shouted, and gestured at the thick foliage they would have to navigate through.

"You could always try flying." Sean suggested, with a straight face.

McKay gave Sean a nasty smirk, and decide to shut up, these guys were an unknown species at the moment.

Sheppard headed in the direction Sean had pointed at, but was suddenly halted by Sean's announcement.

"Be very careful where you walk, I remember a lot of booby traps along the way to this Ancient Outpost. They obviously didn't want many people to find it."

"Booby traps!" McKay shouted, in alarm. "What kind of booby traps?" He asked, his voice rising slightly. "You mean trip wires and that sort of thing."

"I mean every kind of booby trap you could think of, I remember there were lots of booby traps, and none of them was the same." Sean told everyone.

"Ronon, you hear that, look out for booby traps." Sheppard shouted over to Ronon, who was quite a distance away from the group.

"Yeah, I heard." Ronon said, but kept on walking around like he was booby proofed.

Hunter glanced over at Ronon and snorted, the guy just didn't know the meaning of the word careful, alright he was a very good tracker, but even the best made mistakes. Hunter turned back to the job of tracking, and tried to ignored Ronon as much as possible.

A few hours later and McKay started to complain about needing to rest, and also needing something to eat. Everyone ignored him as much as possible, but after listening to him whine for over fifteen minutes, Sheppard finally gave in.

"Alright, we'll stop for a rest." he told everyone, and looking straight at McKay, added "And get something to eat."

McKay ignored Sheppard's mocking tone, sitting down on the nearest fallen tree trunk, he started to search through his pack looking for food. Having found a tasty bar of something he started to eat, thus keeping him quiet for a while.

Everyone else followed suit, sitting down in various places. Hunter also took the opportunity to rest, he found a nice spot and laid down, closing his eyes, he dozed. He was used to taking naps wherever, and whenever, he could. He hadn't been dozing long when some sixth sense alerted him to something. Opening his eyes he found himself looking at Ronon, he was sitting a short distance away, watching him. Hunter felt uncomfortable with Ronon sitting so close, watching his every movement.

If he moved now, Hunter thought, Ronon would assume he was nervous, which wouldn't be far from the truth. So Hunter stayed where he was, for now. But after a few more minutes of Ronon's eyes burning into his skull, Hunter moved. He got up and walked over to Sean, who was talking to Sheppard, about the Ancient Outpost .

Ronon watched Hunter get up and walk over to Sheppard and the other tracker. Ronon smiled, he liked the fact that he was getting to this guy. And what the hell was it with the mask, he thought, was the guy disfigured or something. Ronon moved into a more comfortable position, one where he could continue to watch Hunter. Something was niggling the hell out of Ronon about this guy. He needed to think, concentrate, things didn't add up.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 3 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content later chapters  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 3

It was decided that everyone had rested enough, and it was time to move on. Hunter headed out first, he came upon Ronon, who refused to move, making Hunter side step around him. Hunter was not in the mood to play these games, he ignored Ronon's intimidating glares.

They had only gone a short distance, when Hunter looked over at Ronon, he saw something flash in the foliage. Hunter, moved towards Ronon, he knew Ronon hadn't seen the flash, because Ronon had been too busy watching him.

"Something wrong." Ronon asked, as Hunter approached. Hunter didn't want to say anything, not until he was sure of what he'd seen, he didn't want to look silly in front of Ronon. But as he got closer to Ronon, he saw the flash again, Ronon had his back to it, so again, never saw it.

Just then Hunter saw the slight movement in the foliage, he grabbed Ronon's arm and pulled him back.

"Look out." Hunter shouted, as he pulled Ronon back, out of the range of the booby trap.

"What the hell... ." Ronon snarled, as he fell to the ground. He still hadn't realised that he'd almost walked into a booby trap. T_his wasn't like the Ronon he remembered,Hunter thought._ _There was no way Ronon would ever be caught out like this._ Hunter realised that his presence was affecting Ronon's concentration. _Ditto, Hunter thought._

Ronon, quickly got up, and went for Hunter, this was something that had been building since they had met a few hours ago. It wasn't just because Hunter had knocked him down. Hunter quickly moved out of the way, just managing to escape the hard hitting punch thrown at him. Ronon didn't give up, he went for Hunter again, this time connecting with Hunters blocking arm, knocking Hunter off balance. Hunter regained his balance quickly and threw a few hits of his own, connecting a few times, and causing Ronon to lose his balance, again.

The one thing that Sheppard noticed about this confrontation, was that they were almost equally matched. Ronon, though, Sheppard thought, had the upper hand, Sheppard didn't think that Hunter had the same stamina, or power, behind him that Ronon did.

Both Sheppard and Sean quickly tried to break things up, but not before Hunter had caused Ronon to go sprawling in the dirt, pissing him off even more than he already was. Ronon got up and went to go for Hunter, again, but Sheppard intervened. Sean, by this time had managed to grab hold of Hunter, and was dragging him away from the camp.

Sheppard wanted to know why Ronon had gone for Hunter. Ronon accused the man of attacking him, Sheppard, put Ronon straight.

"The guy never attacked you, he probably saved your life, or at least stopped you from being badly hurt."

Ronon snorted with disbelief, there was no way he would walk in to a booby trap. Sheppard, turned him around, and showed him the nasty looking booby trap that had been activated.

Ronon went very quiet, he looked at the thick piece of wood, several spikes sticking out of it, it probably would have hit him at chest height. Realising he'd made a mistake just got Ronon even more angrier, he wasn't about to apologise to Hunter. He stormed out of the camp, stiffening, when Sheppard shouted for him to be careful of booby traps.

An exhausting hour and a half, of walking through the forest, was taking its toll on everyone. Every step they took had to be forged through the thick undergrowth, and it didn't help, knowing that at any time something might suddenly be triggered that could kill you.

Hunter looked around, the foliage was very thick, and seemed to go on forever, he didn't think that they'd reach the Ancient Outpost today.

Sheppard was also looking around, he hadn't seen Ronon since he'd taken off after the fight with Hunter. Sheppard couldn't help but wonder what Ronon was up to.

"Teyla you seen anything of Ronon." he shouted behind him.

"Not since the incident with Hunter." she answered.

"Sean, I think I've got another one of your signs here," Hunter shouted.

Everyone stopped, Sean headed over to where Hunter was and examined the large rock with a symbol cut into it.

"Is it another one." Sheppard asked, peering over Sean's shoulder.

"Yes, we'll have to change direction, this takes us at a right angle to the path we've been following." he said.

Sheppard looked around, _'where the hell was Ronon' he wondered. This wasn't the time to have a temper tantrum._

They decided to rest for a few minutes, everyone started to move around, trying to find a place to sit for a while.

Hunter, heard the tell tale click of an explosive device being triggered. He'd heard the sound a hundred times before, and recognise it instantly.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 4 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content later chapters  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 4

"Stop! " Hunter shouted loudly, holding a hand up, turning to look at everyone. "No body move an inch, stay exactly where you are." Hunter told them.

McKay, who never seemed to listen to anyone but himself, was just about to move. Hunter threw a knife, that whizzed right by McKay's head, McKay froze with fright.

"I said, stay exactly where you are!" Hunter shouted at him.

McKay was just about to open his mouth to object to Hunters tone of voice, but seeing the intimidating stance , he quickly shut it and stood still. '_The next knife this guy threw, might not miss,' he thought._

"What's the matter." Sheppard asked, glancing around to see if he could see anything. This guy was as bad as Ronon when it came to hearing and seeing things, Sheppard thought.

"Someone's activated a booby trap..." Hunter said but never got to finish.

"What do you mean 'someone's activated a booby trap', how the hell do you know." McKay shouted,he was still peeved over the knife.

Hunter moved towards McKay and stopped right in front of him. McKay shut his mouth and kept quiet.

Hunter slowly moved around everyone, meticulously examining the area around them and under their feet. Sheppard was clear and moved away from the others, then it was Teyla, she was fine, Sean was also clear. That only left Mckay, as Ronon was still out of sight, Hunter had no idea where he was.

McKay was panicking again, he realised that he was the only one left, which he concluded, meant that he was the one who was standing on a booby trap. _He was a dead man, he thought. _McKay glanced down at the Neanderthal who was now lying at his feet. He just hoped the guy knew what he was doing.

Hunter was lying on the floor digging the earth from around the device, he needed to get access to it, see if he could disarm it. When he had removed enough dirt from around the device he examine it, Hunter, hung his head down, damn it. Kneeling up he turned and looked over at Sean.

Sean knew what Hunter was indicating, he turned to Sheppard "Hunter can't disarm the device." He told him.

"What's wrong." McKay shouted, realising that something else, other than him standing on a bomb, was wrong.

"Look I can't disarm the device..." Hunter tried to explain the options but McKay butt in before he had a chance to.

"Can't disarm it! Why can't you disarm it?" his voice was rising. "Surely it's a simple technique to..."

"Calm down McKay, it's not helping." Sheppard told him, he didn't want Rodney to accidentally move and blow himself up.

"Calm down! Calm down! I'd like to see you clam down, knowing your about to have your extremities and everything else blow off" He screamed.

"Quiet!" Hunter shouted, "Nobody is going to blow up. If you'd let me finish what I was going to say, you'd know there is another option here!"

"There is?" McKay asked, suspicion in his voice.

"Yes, there is."

Sean frowned at Hunter, he wasn't sure what Hunter was up to. He didn't know of any other way to get someone off a mine.

"So what is it." McKay said eager to move.

"You have to trust me." Hunter told him.

McKay seemed to ponder this, he didn't really know this guy, could he trust him, with his life, hell he couldn't even see the guys face, how was he supposed to trust him.

"McKay!" Sheppard shouted exasperated. It wasn't as if he had much choice, certain death, or a chance to live.

"Alright! Alright, I...trust you." He said, hoping that Hunter believed him.

"Right, I need everyone to stand back, out of the blast area." He said.

"Hunter, what are you doing." Sean finally asked.

Hunter walked over to where Sean and Sheppard where standing.

"What are you planning on doing." Sean asked.

"The blast from these things tends to be upwards and not outwards, so if I can get him off that thing fast enough, and out of the blast radius, we can survive."

"You ever done this before." Sheppard asked, he could see the look Sean was giving Hunter and knew this wasn't something they hadn't had much practice at.

"Yes." Hunter said half heartedly.

"How many times." Sheppard asked.

"Once." He admitted.

"Well, it must have worked, because your still here." Sheppard remarked.

Sheppard squinted his eyes. "How are you gonna get him off the device fast enough."

"Don't ask" Hunter said and turned and headed back to McKay.

"Right, McKay, I need you to close your eyes." Hunter said, he didn't want McKay moving an inch, which would be a possibility, if he saw Hunter running at him at top speed.

"What! What for?" He wanted to know.

"You said you'd trust me." Hunter warned him.

"Fine. Closing my eyes. Eyes closed." He snorted.

----------

Up on the incline Ronon stood looking down on them, having heard a lot of commotion and shouting he'd come to investigate. Everyone seemed to be okay, and nothing was amiss. But something was wrong, McKay was separated from the others. Ronon quickly got down to the group, but before he could reached them, he saw Hunter running towards McKay at a tremendous speed.

Hunter ran as fast as possible at McKay, he needed to tackle him hard and fast if they were to survive. Hunter hit McKay hard, grabbing him around the torso and letting the momentum carry them out of the blast radius. They managed to move quite a distance before the device exploded, but the blast sent them further and harder than Hunter had intended. They hit the ground with a bone jarring thud. Debris rained down on everyone.

Hunter rolled off McKay, to lie on the floor on his back, he took a few deep breaths,then turned his head to look at McKay.

"You alright?"

"I don't know, everything has gone quiet, I can't hear much."

"That's just the blast, it tends to shut things up and makes you hear the silence."

"Everyone alright?" Sheppard asked running over to them.

Sean reached Hunter and looked into the face mask, he wished that Hunter would take the damned thing off, so he could actually see if everything was alright, but he knew there was no chance of that.

"You okay." He asked quietly.

"Fine." Hunter replied, everything seemed to be working.

Hunter turned to look at McKay and saw Ronon standing there staring, swallowing a lump that had lodged in his throat, Hunter didn't know how much more of this... . '_Damn_ _it'_, it had only been a few hours... . He closed his eyes and turned back to look at Sean.

McKay was standing up being helped away from the scene of the explosion by Sheppard and Ronon, leaving just Sean and Hunter alone.

"Come on lets get you up." Sean said pulling Hunter up by the arm.

Hunter stood up with Sean's help and immediately, the pain hit him, and hit him hard, it was concentrated on his back area, it felt like it was on fire.

"What's wrong." Sean asked hearing Hunter groan.

"I think I hurt my back." Hunter admitted. Taking a few steps, knees bending, Hunter sank to the ground, bending over as the pain radiated across his flesh.

Sheppard and Ronon turned to see what was going on, and saw Hunter falling down to the floor. They came over to see what was wrong.

Sean moved to examine Hunters back, pushing the jacket up he saw several shards of metal embedded in the flesh.

Sheppard and Ronon just caught sight of the bloodied skin and Sheppard quickly got the medic kit out of his pack, and handed it over to Sean.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Sheppard asked Sean.

"He'll be fine." Sean told him.

Sheppard was a little sceptical at this announcement, the guys back looked pretty cut up to him.

Ronon looked at Hunters back and frowned, something kept niggling at him about this guy, things didn't seem to add up. But Ronon couldn't put his finger on what it was and it was frustrating the hell out of him.

Sean knew that this was going to hurt like hell, but it had to be done. He took hold of the first piece of metal sticking out of Hunters back, and slowly eased it from its position. He felt Hunters body tensing at the pain, heard the muffled cries, he wished there was another way of doing this, but there wasn't. Sheppard and Ronon stood there, watching, wincing as each piece of metal was pulled from the skin.

Sean pulled the last piece out and covered the wounds and bandaged it up. He gave Hunter what pain killers they had and helped him over to lie on the soft grass.

"So what happens now." Sheppard asked, looking down at Hunter.

"We'll be ready to go in about an hour." Sean said.

"Your sure, I mean Hunters wounds look pretty nasty." Sheppard said.

"An hour, we'll be ready to go. Hunter is a fast healer." Sean announced, leaving Sheppard in no doubt as to this being a fact.

"Fine, an hour." Sheppard agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 5 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content later chapters  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 5

While they had time to kill, Sheppard took the chance to ask Sean a few questions.

"You come from this planet." Sheppard asked.

"No, I'm just here to do business." Sean replied.

"You and Hunter, you work together all the time."

"For the time being."

"Where does Hunter come from." Ronon asked.

Sean turned to look at Ronon, "You'll have to ask him yourself, I have no idea." he told Ronon, _'but you do_', Sean silently added.

"So what kind of shape do you think the Ancient Outpost will be in now." Sheppard asked.

"It was pretty well protected, so I'd guess it would be in good shape."

"Any ideas as to how long we may have to travel before we reach it." Sheppard asked him.

"I'm guessing, but I'd say a day, maybe less."

"That doesn't sound too bad." Sheppard remarked.

"Another day of walking through this stuff doesn't sound bad to you." McKay laughed, "You must be a sadist, it's been absolute torture, my hands and face are scratched to bits." he said, looking down at his hands, covered in scratches.

Hunter stirred, moved, and winced as the pain shot through his body. _It wasn't that bad he thought, he'd had worse_. He noticed the others sitting a short distance away, talking. Hunter tensed, _what were they talking about, he wondered. Sean..., no_ _he dismissed the thought immediately, Sean wouldn't say anything. _He sat up, and unseen by anyone, and stumbled over to his pack. He opened it and took out a bottle of water, lifting his head he drank deeply, as he lowered his head down he came face to face with Ronon.

'_What now', Hunter thought, he wasn't in any shape to start playing games._

"I just wanted to say...wanted to..." Ronon couldn't get the words out.

Hunter, behind the mask, smiled, he knew Ronon was trying to apologise,he'd seen it before. He also knew Ronon very rarely apologised to anyone for anything. He must really be feeling bad about what had happened. Taking pity, Hunter spoke.

"It's alright, no hard feelings."

There was definitely something about this guy that got to Ronon.

"Have we met before." Ronon asked bluntly. He saw Hunter tense, saw the tremor that ran through his body, he'd hit a nerve, Ronon realised. Ronon tried to think of anyone he knew who was the same height, same build as this guy, but he couldn't think of anyone. Maybe if he could see the colour of the guys hair, he might be able to narrow it down. But the mask Hunter wore was attached to a hood, so Ronon couldn't see the colour.

"Well, have we." Ronon pushed.

"No, you've never met Hunter before." He said.

Hunters answer puzzled Ronon, such a strange way to put it, he thought. Ronon didn't believe Hunter for one minute, he had definitely hit a nerve with his question. But seeing as the other guy was hurt, Ronon thought he'd let things go, for now.

It had been just over an hour since Hunter had been hurt, and they were ready to carry on.

"You sure you're up to this." Sheppard asked Hunter.

"I'm fine."

"Ronon, you take point." Sheppard told him.

Hunter would have objected, but his back was still a little tender, and Ronon was an even better tracker than him.

A few hours later and it was getting too dark to carry on, it wouldn't be safe, not with booby traps galore. So Sheppard told them to settle down in a small clearing they had found. Hunter was grateful, he was feeling very tired.

A fire was built and everyone settle down in their own little corner around the fire. Hunter laid down and fell asleep straight away.

When Hunter woke, he looked around, everyone was asleep. He got up and made his way to the small stream near by. He removed his jacket and the mask, he bent over the stream and threw the cool refreshing water over his heated skin. It felt good, he took a deep breath, then reluctantly he put the mask back on. He froze when he heard the sound of someone behind him.

He turned slightly to see who it was.

"Hi, didn't meant to disturb you." Sheppard said, it was very dark and Sheppard couldn't see much.

"That's alright." Hunter said, thankful that he had put the mask back on before he had turned around.

Sheppard had come to fill his water flask up, as he moved closer to the water he caught a glimpse of Hunters arm. The guy had a scar across his forearm, shaped like a letter X. Sheppard was curious as to how he got it.

Hunter quickly pulled his jacket on and left.

Back at the camp Hunter settled down and ate some of the food rations that Teyla had provided.

"It is not very appetising, but it's better than nothing." Teyla remarked.

"Considering some of the food I've had to eat, it's very appetising." Hunter said, laughing.

Sheppard and McKay looked at each other.

"It seems Teyla's made a conquest." Sheppard said, watching Teyla and Hunter, talking and laughing, animatedly.

Everyone gravitated around the fire, eating and talking, just waiting for it to get light enough where it would be safe enough to travel through the forest.

Everything was fine, until Sheppard remarked on Hunters scar. Asking Hunter how he had gotten it.

Two people froze, at Sheppard's remark, another person threw glances between the two frozen statues. The atmosphere in camp seemed to became electrically charged.

Sheppard not realising what he had done, continued to ask Hunter about the X shaped scar on his forearm. Teyla realised something was up, when she saw Hunter quickly stand up and start to back away from a looming Ronon, who was slowly moving towards him.

The second Sheppard had mention that X shaped scar on Hunters forearm, and something inside Ronon had snapped. It was like all the disjointed pieces of a puzzle, suddenly falling in to place, to create a whole picture. Ronon knew why Hunter had gotten to him, why things hadn't added up. He knew who was behind the mask.

As Ronon moved closer to Hunter, everyone became aware of the tension.

"Ronon?" Sheppard said, querying what Ronon was doing.

"Take the mask off." Ronon demanded.

Hunter stood his ground and refused to comply, he just backed up slowly, as Ronon advanced towards him.

Sean had been expecting this confrontation ever since they had begun the job, and he was not about to intervene. Hunter needed this to get over his past.

Sheppard stood there watching Ronon and Hunter squaring off against each other, and wondered what the hell was going on. He tried to calm the situation down, but he didn't have a clue as to what was going on. And Ronon wasn't listening to anyone, all his attention was on Hunter.

"Take the mask off." Ronon repeated the demand, his voice more assertive.

Hunter took no notice of Ronon, he was not going to remove his mask.

Ronon was now only a few feet in front of Hunter, he reached out to grab the mask, but Hunter kicked his foot out and sent Ronon reeling backwards. Sheppard was stunned by this, he wasn't sure how Ronon would react, he expected Ronon to pull his blaster out and kill Hunter.

But uncharacteristically, Ronon just regained his balance and moved towards Hunter again. Again he reached for the mask, and again Hunter hit him. Ronon, though, was ready, he blocked Hunters hit and countered with one of his own. Ronon's tempered blow knocked Hunter slightly off balance, which he quickly regained. They danced around each other, hitting, blocking, till finally Hunter turned and took off into the forest, Ronon hot on his trail.

Sheppard went to follow them, but Sean stopped him.

"I wouldn't follow them if I were you." Sean warned Sheppard.

"What are you talking about, they'll end up killing one another if we don't stop them." Sheppard said, pulling away from Sean's grasp.

"I don't think so." Sean smiled, "This is something they need to work out for themselves."

"What the hell are you talking about." Sheppard asked, finally realising, he didn't have all the facts.


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 6 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content later chapters  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 6

Hunter was a short distance ahead of Ronon, he ducked behind a tree and waited for Ronon to go past, but he never did. Hunter peeked out from behind the tree, but he couldn't see anything. He turned back to see if he could see from the other side, and came face to face with Ronon.

Hunter tried to back up but Ronon grabbed him and tackled him, as Hunter tried to trip Ronon, they both fell to the ground, a scuffle ensued and it ended with Ronon sitting astride Hunters waist. Ronon had his knees pressing on Hunters arms, so that he couldn't move.

The time seemed to slow down, Hunter waited for the inevitable, but Ronon took his sweet time in doing it. Eventually Ronon reached his hand out and took hold of the mask, he lifted it off, revealing Hunters face.

Ronon sucked his breath in at the sight, it had been a long time since he had last looked upon these features. He sat there for ages, just taking his fill, neither of them spoke a word. Ronon reached his hand out, meaning to touch, but he pulled his hand back before he actually made contact. He abruptly rolled away and moved to sit with his back against a tree.

Lyssa, just lay there, taking deep breaths. So the secret was out, Ronon now knew who Hunter really was, not a man, but a woman, a woman whom he had once confessed to love. Lyssa sat up and moved back in the opposite direction to Ronon, she rested her back against a tree. '_Another stand off' she thought_, looking at Ronon watching her.

The atmosphere between them felt thick, and heavy, almost oppressive. Lyssa found that she couldn't look at Ronon too long, his gaze was too intense, too painful. She could feel the tears welling up behind her eyes, and she didn't want to start crying in front of him. If he just shouted at her, or even said something, she might be able to stave off the tears, but this silence was too much. Things had been so much easier behind the mask.

Ronon sat there staring at Lyssa, his emotions in turmoil as to what to do. His feelings were contradictory, he loved her and hated her at the same time. He didn't know if he wanted to kiss her or hit her. So beautiful and yet so deceitful, he thought. He also remembered the last time that they had been together, they had torn each other to shreds.

Ronon, suddenly stood up, and moved over towards Lyssa. He stood in front of her, and looked down at her. He reached his hand out to her, to pull her up, Lyssa hesitated slightly, then gave him her hand so that he could pull her up. His touch was almost like an electric shock and Lyssa almost pulled her hand from his, but he was holding her too tightly. Lyssa was standing and waiting for Ronon to let go of her hand, but he didn't, he continued to hold on to her.

Ronon couldn't decide whether he should take what he wanted, or just leave it, his body way saying one thing, his brain another. In the end his body won out.

Lyssa was suddenly pushed back against the tree and a hard forceful mouth crushed against hers, the taste, the smell of him, brought a multitude of memories flooding back. Remembered passions, night and days spent doing nothing but holding each other, loving each other. Lyssa opened her mouth as Ronon deepened the kiss, using his tongue, his teeth, biting her lip till she tasted blood. As abruptly as the kiss started, it ended.

Ronon turned away from her and headed towards the camp, leaving an emotionally shattered Lyssa behind him, he didn't say anything, didn't look back to see if she was following him. The tears rolled down her cheeks, no hope of stemming this flow, she thought, as she sank back down to the ground and waited for them to stop. She didn't want to face anyone right now, she needed time to pull her fragile emotions back together. '_Damn it why did she let him do this to her, she swore she wouldn't let any one do this to her again'._

Ronon walked slowly back to camp, he hadn't been able to stay there any longer. That kiss had brought back so many memories, and his body had reacted to those memories, and to the feel of her, the taste of her. If he'd stayed a few seconds longer, he wouldn't be here now, feeling frustrated, he'd be back there buried in her sweet body.


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 7 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content later chapters  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 7

Almost three quarters of an hour later, Sheppard watched Ronon come strolling back into camp, alone. Sheppard frowned, where was Hunter, surely Ronon hadn't... no, he wouldn't...would he?

"Where's Hunter?" Sheppard decided to ask him.

"I have no idea." Ronon replied, moving over to pick his coat up and pull it on.

"You chased after him." Sheppard, dared to mention the incident.

"Did I?"

Ronon was being very perverse, Sheppard thought. What the hell had gone on, he wanted to know.

"Did you catch him?" Sheppard, was not about to let this go.

Ronon turned around to face Sheppard, he gave him a hard glaring stare, then he focused on a movement on the edge of the camp.

"Why don't you ask him yourself." Ronon said, seeing Lyssa entering the camp.

Everyone turned at this statement, McKay, who was drinking something at that precise moment, suddenly started choking at the sight of Lyssa. Teyla quickly started to pat him on the back, trying to get him to breath.

Sheppard stood there, mouth agape, in total shock.

All eyes were focused on Lyssa, and it made her feel very uncomfortable. This was the first time any of them had actually seen her face.

'Damn' Sheppard thought, so this is what's been hiding under that 'god forsaken mask'. Sean hadn't mentioned anything about Hunter being a woman. The only thing he had said was that Ronon and Hunter had some kind of history together. And seeing what Hunter really looked like, Sheppard could bet what kind of history that was.

Lyssa, feeling self conscious, ran her fingers through her short, blonde hair, trying to comb her hair back. It felt nice to have the wind on her face, but she was feeling a little vulnerable at the moment, everyone's eyes on her. The silence in the camp was deafening, no one seemed to know what to say. All eyes were focused on Lyssa. She glanced around, looking for Sean, she needed to see a friendly face right now, but he was nowhere in sight.

"Hi." Sheppard said, suddenly standing at her side.

Lyssa jumped, she hadn't heard him approach. Sheppard was standing there smiling at her, acting like they'd never met. This was one of the reasons she wore the mask. Once men found out that you were female they often treated you differently. Just like Sheppard was starting to do right now.

"Where's Sean?" she asked, Sheppard.

"Oh,he went to scout around, to see if he could locate any more symbols, he said he was sure there should be one in this area."

"I'd better get my things then, he'll probably be back soon." she said and moved towards her gear.

"Are you alright?" Sheppard asked, quietly.

She was just about to answer when she noticed Ronon, all geared up, leave the camp.

The way he was acting, you'd think she'd been the one, who had done something to him, when, in fact, it was the other way around. Ronon had never once, listened to her side of the story. According to him, he had seen with his own eyes, so anything she had to say was irrelevant.

"Hunter?" Sheppard's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"What?" she had forgotten what Sheppard had been asking her.

"Is everything alright." he noticed her watching Ronon.

"I'm fine." she told him, "and you can call me Lyssa, people only call me Hunter when I'm wearing the mask." she added. She moved over to pick up her things.

Sean finally came back to camp, he'd found the next symbol, and the way was clear of booby traps. So they headed out, Lyssa became aware of Ronon on the outer fringes of the area, she just hoped he stayed there.

For over an hour everything was fine, the path they were walking was pretty clear of foliage, so they could walk without fighting for every step. They didn't encounter any booby traps and McKay wasn't whining about anything.

That was, until Lyssa grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him backwards, out of the way of a ferocious looking, cat like animal. It pounced from the foliage right in front of them, just missing McKay. Both of them stumbled backwards, moving out of the way of the creature.

Then they heard it, that tell tale click of a mine being stepped on and primed to explode. Both Lyssa and McKay froze at the sound.

"No, no, no..." McKay started, "Not again, I can't take any more of this." he started to whine.

"McKay, it's alright, your fine..." Lyssa tried to tell him.

"What do you mean I'm fine? Did you not just hear that sound, I can't take any more of these, bloody, booby traps." He shouted at her.

"McKay, your alright. It's not you. Go and tell Sean I need him over here, now."

Finally realising what she was telling him McKay glanced down at her feet, but he couldn't see anything.

"Now, McKay." She prodded him.

"Yes, I'll...I'll go tell him." He said, quickly moving away from her.

A few seconds later Sean was racing over to her, followed by Sheppard.

"What is it?" Sean asked, not having waited for McKay to explain what had happened.

"I kinda stepped into a big mess of trouble." She said, trying to lighten the situation.

Sean was a little slow on the uptake, he didn't realise what she was talking about, until she pointed her finger down towards her feet.

Sean glanced down, and realising what she was talking about, he went very pale.

"I'm no good at these things, Lyssa, you know that." He started to breath quicker.

"Just do the same thing that you did to McKay." Sheppard, suggested.

"That's a choice, if it's the same kind of device, but this one didn't sound the same." Lyssa told Sheppard. But she wasn't even sure if it was a mine she had trodden on.

Sean, nervously, started to dig the ground from around her feet, it seemed to take ages, and Lyssa was getting very cramped standing in this still position, not being able to move her feet at all.

"Is it a mine?" She asked Sean, when he had exposed the device.

"Yes, it's a mine, but you know me I couldn't tell you what type it is, whether it could be disarmed or not. I have absolutely no idea."

Sheppard got down to have a look.

"If you don't know what your doing, if you touch something you shouldn't, you could set it off." she told him.

"I wasn't gonna touch a thing." Sheppard admitted.

"Ronon, you said Ronon taught you how to deactivate mines, he could..." Sean said, turning around to look for Ronon.

"Ronon taught you." Sheppard asked her.

Lyssa nodded.

"Fine, then we'll just get Ronon to deactivate it." Sheppard smiled. Glancing around, like Sean, he failed to locate him. He got on his radio.

"Ronon? Come on buddy, now is not the time to go all silent on me." Sheppard said into the radio.

"Ronon? Look, if you can hear me, we've got a problem here, and we could do with some help, like yesterday." Sheppard glanced around again hoping to see Ronon heading towards them, but no such luck. Sheppard just hoped that Ronon hadn't gotten into trouble like Lyssa.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 8 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 8

It had been forty minutes since Lyssa had stepped on to the mine, her muscles felt sore and stiff,and she was starting to feel light headed. She didn't know how much longer she could stand still for. Sheppard had been giving her water and feeding her high energy bars, but standing completely still was taking its toll on her, she just wanted to move, shift her feet into a better position, but that was impossible.

"Ronon, where the hell have you... What happened to you?" Sheppard shouted when he saw Ronon coming towards them, several scratches on his face.

"I tangled with a wild cat," he said, his eyes going towards Lyssa, the double meaning evident, "It damaged my radio." he frowned and looked around, what was going on.

"Did I miss something." He asked.

"No, you didn't miss anything, in fact you're just in time." Sheppard remarked.

Why where they all standing around, Ronon wondered, he couldn't see anything wrong.

"So, what is it?" Ronon asked Sheppard.

"We need you to defuse a mine." he told him.

"Where is it?" Ronon asked.

Sheppard hesitated, he knew Ronon and Lyssa had problems, so he wasn't sure how Ronon would react to the answer.

"Sheppard?" Ronon queried.

"Lyssa's standing on it." he told him. Sheppard noticed the slight stiffening of Ronon's features, saw him close his eyes, and take a deep breath.

"If you're gonna do something, I suggest you do it now, I don't think she can stand still for much longer." Sean said, from behind Ronon.

When Ronon turned around to look at Lyssa, it was to see her swaying, Sean grabbing her, and holding her up.

Ronon got down on the floor and examined the mine, on close examination he realised that it was going to be a tricky one.

"Can you defuse it." Sheppard asked, from over Ronon's shoulder.

"I don't know, I've never defused one like this before." Ronon admitted.

"You could always do what Lyssa did to McKay." Sheppard suggested, again.

Ronon gave Sheppard a frosty stare, then got back to trying to defuse the mine.

"What?" Sheppard asked, as Sean gave him a pained look. "It worked with McKay."

"Where do you think Lyssa learned the technique from." Sean asked Sheppard.

"You mean, that one time, was with Ronon." Sheppard asked.

"So I've been told."

Ronon was concentrating upon defusing the bomb, his eyes straining to locate the small pin he needed to dislodge, he couldn't see it, he knelt up and looked around. He wasn't sure he could defuse this one. He was just about to lay down and get back to defusing the mine, when he saw Lyssa's knees bend, she was going to fall, he realised.

"Lyssa!" he shouted loudly, startling everyone.

Lyssa suddenly stood up straight, shocked by Ronon's voice. She'd been feeling very light headed, still did, but the sound of Ronon shouting her name, had been like a dash of cold water being thrown over her.

"Sorry." she whispered, knowing that Ronon was risking his life for her.

It took forever for Ronon to finally defuse the damn thing. Lyssa wasn't really in a coherent frame of mind. She was actually running on adrenalin. Her muscles had locked and she couldn't move. Instinct, and sheer will had kept her up and now she couldn't turn it off.

"Lyssa, it's alright to move now, the mine isn't active any more." Ronon told her. Eventually Ronon's voice must have penetrated her brain, because all of a sudden her knees bent and she sank down to the floor.

Ronon caught her just before she actually sank to the ground, he carried her over to a small clearing and laid her down. Then he moved away and sat down a short distance from her. Lyssa wasn't aware of anything, she was completely out of it, unaware of anything.

Ronon was looking at Lyssa, and remembering the last time they had been in a similar situation. They had been evading a wraith when they had stumbled upon a mine field. Lyssa had trodden on a mine and Ronon hadn't been able to defuse it. He didn't have any way of getting her off the mine without killing her. Then, he had come up with a harebrained idea, if he tackled her, the momentum could carry them out of the blast radius.

So he'd gone for it, and it had worked, almost. Ronon had ended up with several pieces of shrapnel in his back, just like Lyssa had, when she tried the same stunt with McKay. Now he realised, why the sight of the shrapnel in her back had stirred something in him. He closed his eyes, letting his thoughts run deeper into the past.

Several years earlier.

Ronon stood there, looking down at the dead Wraith lying at his feet, it felt good when he killed one of them, one less to worry about, he thought. He moved away and went in search of somewhere to bed down for a few nights. He looked over the barren surrounding, the place was dead, nothing lived here, not any more. Not since the Wraith had culled it.

He found a small cave and entered, it was pitch black, he couldn't see a thing. But that had never bothered him, so he dropped his pack and settled down to get some sleep. He closed his eyes, and became aware of a presence nearby. He got a more firmer grasp on his blaster and waited for the right moment.

Something moved, fast, heading for the cave entrance. Ronon was up and on his feet in seconds, giving chase. He managed to snag something with his hand, he tugged hard, bringing whoever, or whatever, it was barrelling back into his body. Ronon lost his balance, feeling himself falling backwards, he reached out grabbing hold again, he held on tight. He hit the floor hard, felt something crushing his chest, he wrapped his arms around it and rolled, pinning whatever it was to the floor.

Ronon knew it wasn't a Wraith, but he couldn't see anything. He moved his position, eased his weight off, a little.

"Get off me!" the female voice spat, Ronon could hear the fear, hell he could feel her fear, she was trembling.

Realising he was probably crushing her, and that she was of no great threat to him. Ronon got up and went to back away, but she pulled her elbow back and rammed it into his ribs, Ronon winced, his ribs were already sore. Acting on self preservation Ronon grabbed her and pulled her back against his chest, her back was pressed against his chest, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He didn't want to give her any room to move. He felt his back against the wall so he sat down, pulling her down to sit in front of him, between his legs.

"Have you calmed down, now." He asked.

The only thing Ronon got was mutinous silence. He eased his grip a little, and felt her getting ready to flee, so he tightened his hold again.

"Look I'm not gonna hurt you, you've got nothing to fear from me." Ronon told her. He could feel the tension in her easing.

"What's your name?" he asked. She said nothing. "Alright, I'll call you..." Ronon started to say.

"It's Lyssa." she said quietly.

Over the next few hours he got to hear how her family, and everyone else, had been culled by the Wraith. How she had managed to escape from the Wraith, and survive. Ronon let her talk, he knew she needed to talk, needed someone to listen to her, so he listened.

Ronon, knew, surviving wasn't the hard part, it was living that was hardest. How did you go on living, when everything you knew,everyone you love, cared about, was gone. That was the worst thing, where did you go from there, who did you turn to. Ronon could hear it in her voice as she recalled the story, he knew she was in a deep dark place, a place where you didn't care whether you lived or died. Ronon knew, because he'd been there himself.

That night, listening to Lyssa tell her story, had changed Ronon. He realised that if he left the next morning, leaving Lyssa alone, that she probably wouldn't survive. So, he decided to take her along with him, until he reached the next village, where he would drop her off. At least with people around her, she might actually feel like living again. Ronon then realised that he didn't even know what she looked like.

"Ronon, you awake.?" Sheppard's voice, brought Ronon crashing back to the present. He opened his eyes and saw everyone ready to head out, even Lyssa.


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 9 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 9

The tension between Ronon and Lyssa seemed to have eased up slightly. But it hadn't completely gone, it was still there, simmering in the background. They were still avoiding each other as much as possible, but they were, at least, being civil to each other, if you could call the odd word here and there, being civil.

A few more hours walking, and Sean announced that they were very close to the Ancient Outpost.

"We are? How close are we?" Sheppard asked.

"A couple of hours, more or less." Sean told him.

"That close." Sheppard smiled, "Maybe we should take a break, then we can head straight for the Outpost, get there before it gets dark." He suggested.

Everyone settled down before the last leg of the journey. Lyssa watched Ronon sitting down by Teyla. Watched him smile at her, playfully grab something from her hand. Lyssa, had to close her eyes against the sight, it reminded her too much of a time when Ronon had treated her like that. She leaned back and relaxed, let her her mind wander, let the memories take over.

Several years earlier.

Lyssa, had now been with Ronon, for over eight months, the first village that they had come to, he had tried to persuade her to stay, but she had refused. She wanted to stay with him, and Ronon, who had gotten used to the company, relented, and allowed her to stay with him.

He'd started to teach her everything he knew, how to survive, how to fight, how to track. For the eight months that she had been with him, they had been friends, teasing each other, play fighting, setting traps to kill Wraith. Then in one instance it had all changed. Lyssa let the memory wash over her, allowed it to take over her senses as she recalled it vividly.

Ronon had been showing her some fighting techniques, but Lyssa hadn't been taking him serious, and he had gotten a little pissed with her attitude. So he'd grabbed her, intending on scaring her into learning how to defend herself. Lyssa had just smiled, this caused Ronon to be a little more forceful than he had been before. Lyssa recalled how he had grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her back and held her tightly. She had told him that he was hurting, but Ronon wanted her to realise how vulnerable she was, especially with someone much bigger than her.

She'd twisted out of his grasp, using a technique he had taught her earlier, and given him a frosty look. But Ronon hadn't finished, he moved towards her, Lyssa backed up and found her back against a tree. Ronon had grabbed her, she'd then started to squirm in his grasp, she'd kicked his shin hard, causing Ronon to lose his balance. Both of them had fallen to the ground in a heap, but Ronon had quickly pinned her to the floor. He sat astride her waist and held her arms against the floor.

"So, how are you gonna get out of this one." He'd asked her.

Lyssa had been fuming, she'd glared at him, then she'd arched her back trying to get him off. But Ronon didn't budge.

"You see how vulnerable you are." He'd said.

Lyssa realised that his arm was pretty close to her, so she'd leaned up and sank her teeth into his arm, biting just enough so that he yelped.

"Ouch, you witch." He'd shouted looking at the teeth marks in his flesh.

"Not so vulnerable, now am I." she'd told him, giving him a little grin.

Ronon sat there, just staring at her, she'd seen his breathing become deeper, she hadn't been able to tear her eyes away from his. Ronon had lowered his head down to kiss her. She'd expected the kiss to be gentle, which it had been at first, but as soon as Ronon had pressed his mouth more firmly over hers, it was like a dam had burst. There had been no stopping the flood of emotions that had ran through the both of them.

Ronon had stretched his body out to lie along the length of her, kissing her mouth, her face, her neck. Tugging her top up, he'd pulled it off, moved his mouth down to her breasts, stroked his tongue over her sensitive nipples, he taken one of her nipples in to his mouth and suckled till the pleasure had been almost unbearable. She'd felt his hand moving down to her stomach, stroking his fingers across her skin, then he moved lower, down to her thighs, he'd gotten frustrated when he'd encountered material, not the bare flesh he had been expecting, he'd tugged the offending garment off, leaving her naked. She'd moaned, when she'd felt his hand between her thighs, felt his fingers opening her, sliding between the sensitive folds. She had been so wet his fingers had glided over her like silk, he'd pressed his finger inside her, his thumb rubbing over the hidden nub, making her arch her back against the onslaught, of pleasure.

Lyssa had stroked her fingers in his hair, she'd pulled his head up, kissed him, felt him deepen the kiss, felt his tongue against hers. She'd moved her hand down to his groin, reached for him, but Ronon had grabbed her hand, before she touched him.

"Don't," He'd told her, his voice, hoarse with hunger.

"Why not." She'd asked him.

"Because If you touch me now, I won't last long."

He'd placed kisses along her neck and shoulder, trying to appease her frustrated look at not getting what she wanted. He'd placed his hand against the small of her back and pulled her closer to his body, at the same time pressing his hips into her. Lyssa had cried out, frustrated, at the feel of him.

"I need more." She'd told him.

"So do I." He'd said, biting her lower lip.

"Now, I need more, now." She'd begged him.

Ronon tried to shuck his trousers off, but Lyssa had been too eager to let him. So Ronon had moved to position himself against her, slowly pushing his erection into her, the searing heat that had enveloped him had almost sent him over the edge. And Lyssa hadn't helped the situation any, by the way she had wriggled her hips against him.

Ronon stilled, dropped his head down to the nape of her neck, tried to calm down.

"Ronon, don't stop." She'd pleaded with him, bucked her hips against him.

"Just keep still, a second, will you." He'd asked her. He hadn't wanted it to be over too soon.

Lyssa had dug her nails into his back, and clawed them down his skin, not enough to cause damage, but enough to cause Ronon to arch his back at the slight pain. Thus making him thrust more deeply into her. Ronon had realised that she wasn't going to let him slow things down, so he'd started rocking his hips against her, getting deeper with every thrust. Until finally he felt her body throbbing around him, he'd stayed still for a moment before he took a few more thrusts, and felt his body shudder, and tremble with the force of his release. He'd dropped his head down to her neck, kissing her shoulder, her neck, eventually reaching her mouth.

"How come I'm naked and your not." she'd asked him. Realising that Ronon was still fully clothed, while she was butt naked.

"You look better than I do naked." He'd teased.

From then on their relationship had changed, from being just friendship, to being passionate lovers. That was until Ronon had accused her of something she hadn't even done. And their passionate lovemaking had turned into all out war.

"Lyssa?"

Lyssa, still deep in the memories, slowly began to emerge from the past.

"Lyssa, were ready to go now."

"In a minute." she told him, she just needed a few more minute, preferably with him by her side. She smiled, she was just about to tell him, she opened her eyes and saw him standing in front of her, looking down at her, a puzzled look on his face.

She was abruptly pulled back in to the present.

Lyssa felt shocked, by what she'd almost said to Ronon, she hated to think what would have happened, had she said, what she'd been thinking. '_Pull yourself together, and get a grip on reality' she told herself._ She quickly got up and got her things together, she then reluctantly made her way over to the others. She didn't want to be here, at this precise moment, her body was still tingling from the memories.

She quickly, glance at Ronon and found him still looking at her with a puzzled look. How long had he been there, she wondered. Had she been talkative, or something else while she had been half asleep, had she said something, the more she thought about it, the worse the scenarios seemed to get.


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 10 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 10

This part of the journey seemed almost idyllic, Lyssa thought, so far, nothing had happened. They hadn't encountered any problems, the path they walked was pretty clear of foliage, making it very easy going. Ronon was just ahead of everyone else, checking the area for booby traps, which had been pretty sparse, so far.

"What made you want to wear a mask?" Teyla asked, coming to walk beside her.

"Men." Lyssa said, no hesitation. Teyla raised her brow and looked at Lyssa.

"Would that be one man in particular, or just men in general?" Teyla queried, wondering if Ronon had been the reason for the mask.

"I never had any problems while I was with Ronon, it was after. Being on my own caused a lot of problems, all to do with men. They seemed to have a problem dealing with a woman, they wanted to deal with a man, hence the mask."

"Yes, I have also encountered such problems." Teyla laughed, thinking about the first time that she had been introduced to Colonel Sheppard, a 'Major' at the time, and Colonel Sumner.

"If it hadn't been for Ronon, teaching me how to fight, how to protect myself, I hate to think about what could have happened." Lyssa told her.

------------

"There's your Outpost." Sean announced, pointing to a structure, just visible through the trees. It was probably about a mile away.

"That's it?" McKay said with disbelief. Looking at the small derelict building that sprouted from the side of the mountain. "I thought you said it would be in good shape." McKay said accusingly. "It doesn't look like it's in, any, kind of shape at all." He remarked.

"Well, when I say Outpost, that isn't the actual Outpost, it's just the entrance to it." Sean told him.

"So where is the 'actual Outpost' exactly?" McKay asked.

"You're probably standing on it right now."

McKay looked down at the ground, it took a few seconds for him to understand what the guy was talking about.

"You mean it extends this far out." McKay gasped, "But that's..."

"Huge." Sheppard said, finishing McKay's sentence for him.

"How much of this Outpost did you get to see." Sheppard asked.

"Not much. A lot of the internal doors where locked and we couldn't access them."

"Probably because you don't have the Ancient Gene." McKay remarked.

Sean just shrugged, he didn't know what the guy was talking about, and he didn't want to know.

"Well, shouldn't we get moving." McKay said, he turned around and headed towards the Outpost, eager to begin exploring.

"Don't be fooled into thinking that the way is clear," Sean told everyone, "There are still booby traps around here."

"Sure, but shouldn't we try to get there before it gets dark." McKay said, not hearing the words 'booby trap', his mind was on the Outpost and all the things that could possible be in there.

They'd gotten about half way to the Outpost, when Sheppard, who was just ahead of Lyssa, to the right, suddenly stepped sideways, to avoid a small bush, and walked right into a force field. Not the usual force field that would have thrown you back with a nasty jolt, this one was more like a spiders web. It held on to it's unfortunate prey, slowly draining the life from whatever happened to get snared.

Sheppard, could feel the force field crushing him. Every second he was in it, he could feel the pressure increase. Each breath he took was torture, he couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs, it felt like he was drowning. He couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything, but he could definitely feel, his chest felt like it was slowly being crushed.

"There should be four small devices!" Sean shouted to the others, knowing they had to get Sheppard out of there fast.

He pointed to the two trees which flanked the forcefield, indicating where the devices should be.

Ronon pulled his blaster out and went to fire at the devices.

"Don't do that." Sean shouted at Ronon, and got a threatening look in return.

"If you shoot the wrong one, the forcefield will explode and him with it, shoot the right one and it just disables it." Sean told him bluntly.

"So which one is the right one."

"That's what we have to find out. One of them is slightly different from the others, we have to find out which one it is, then you can shoot it."

It was down to Lyssa to see which device was the odd one out. She checked the two at the base of the trees, then she needed to check the other two. These were situated high above the ground, and the only way for her to reach them, was for Ronon to give her a boost up.

Ronon sat down and waited for her to straddle his shoulders. Lyssa climbed on to the log and then climbed on to Ronon's shoulders. When he stood up, she had to adjust her position to stay balanced. As Ronon walked towards the tree, she had to keep readjusting her position.

"Your sitting too far back." Ronon told her.

Lyssa moved forward till the juncture of her thighs was pressed against the back of his neck. Her legs either side of his face, she moved to hook her feet behind his waist, giving her a more stable position. Ronon moved his hands up and grabbed hold of her thighs, to further steady her. As he walked over to the tree, she leaned back a little too far and felt his hands tighten on her thighs. She almost groaned, as a jolt of pleasure seared up her thighs.

Ronon stopped by the tree, she leaned up and inspected the third device. Then he moved over to the last one, Lyssa could feel the heat building between her thighs, felt the muscles in her legs tighten on his neck. _Now is not the time to feel like this, she thought, not when a man's life depended on it._

As she examined the last device, she knew it was the third one which was different.

"That one." she said, pointing to the device.

Ronon didn't wait a second before pulling his blaster out and shooting the thing to bits. The force field vanished and Sheppard sank to the floor, unconscious. Teyla, McKay and Sean quickly ran over to check on him.

"Is he alright." McKay asked, watching Teyla check him over.

"He seems to be alright, I can see no damage." Teyla said, feeling the pulse in his neck, faint, but getting stronger with each beat.

"He probably got a nasty jolt when the force field went down, he should be alright soon." Sean remarked, also checking Sheppard's pulse.

Lyssa was still atop of Ronon's shoulders, and he still had hold of her thighs, thighs which had now turned to jelly, _probably from the heat, she thought_. She could feel the juncture of her thighs getting even hotter, if she didn't get off Ronon's shoulders soon she be singeing the back of his neck. But how on earth was she going to manage a dignified dismount.

Ronon took that problem away, he put his hands up and told her to grab hold. She placed her hands in his, he told her to move one of her legs over till she was perched on one shoulder, he then grabbed her around the waist and slid her down the front of his chest. Just before her feet touched the floor, her butt nudged against his groin, clearly indicating that he was aroused.

Lyssa heard the guttural moan, but she didn't know if it had come from her, or Ronon. _Well at least she wasn't the only one who was having problems keeping things under control. So, she affected him as much as he affected her. Well she wasn't about to turn around and let him see how much he had affected her._ She headed over to the others.

Ronon watched her go, then moved back and sat down, with some discomfort. Everything had been fine, until he'd told her that she was sitting too far back. She'd moved further up, her thighs seemed to be even closer to his face. But still, he'd managed to keep control, that was until he felt her thighs closing tighter on his neck, then he'd lost it. Every time her thigh muscles had clenched against his neck, every touch of her hands on his face, and his body had reacted as if she were sitting astride his hips, and not his shoulders. Thinking about it wasn't helping the situation any, he thought, adjusting his sitting position.

Seeing that Sheppard was alright, and knowing that it would probably take a good twenty minutes or so, before he would be able to continue, Ronon took the opportunity to scout out the rest of the area. He also needed to get his errant body under control.

----------

The rest of the way to the Outpost was uneventful, so far. They reached the entrance, and, with no problems, entered the derelict building. Inside, they found another door, this door was build into the side of the mountain and there was no visible way to access it.

"How did you get in the last time." McKay asked Sean.

"I didn't, it was one of the other guys who gained access."

"Oh, just great! We get all this way through god knows how many booby traps. Escape death I don't know how many times, and you now tell us you don't know how to get in." McKay ranted.

Sean just smiled, letting McKay rant and sulk, "You didn't ask me to show you how to get in. Just to show you how to find it." Sean remarked.

"Very funny." McKay snarled.

"Enough!" Sheppard shouted, over McKay's screeching.

"But..."

"Not another word Rodney."

"I..."

Sheppard squinted his eyes and looked, threateningly, at McKay.

McKay thought better of it, he pinched his lips together, and shut up.

An hour later and McKay, with the help of Sean, had managed to locate a hidden panel. They activated the panel and the huge door, smoothly, slid open.

They entered the Ancient Outpost, into pitch blackness. It was several moments before the lighting automatically turned on, creating an eerie atmosphere. McKay was all over the place, looking at everything he could.

They found one room which was full of computers, and various artefacts, and they decided to use it as a base.

"Look it's been a long day, we'll set up in here and tomorrow we'll begin a search and see what we can find." Sheppard announced.

Everyone settled down into their own little corner and rested, except McKay that is, he was busy trying to decipher the data in the computers.

Lyssa felt exhausted and laid down to get some sleep, she glanced over at Ronon and saw him reclining back against the wall, eyes ever watchful, she quickly turned away, and closed her eyes. Images slowly crept into her mind, images she really didn't want to remember but couldn't stop.

Ronon, also weary, let his eyes close, and like Lyssa fell headlong into the past.

Unknowingly, both of them were lost in the same memories. Same memories, different recollections.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 11 / 16   
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content   
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 11

Ronon

Ronon tensed, jerked his hips, and felt the tremors run through his body. He held her tightly, felt her body convulse beneath him, pushed his hips deeper into her, felt her pushing harder against him. Suddenly, she stilled, her legs, which had been wrapped around his hips loosened and fell to the sides. Ronon stayed exactly where he was, his head resting on her shoulder, his mouth against her neck. He bit her neck, teasingly, felt her body jerk, and smiled at how easy it was to get a reaction out of her. He eased himself away from her, felt himself withdrawing and felt her body clenching, he felt his body harden.

"Lyssa?" the young voice shouted.

Both Ronon and Lyssa froze, Lyssa looked shocked and quickly got up and pulled on her shirt and trousers, she turned to look him, and gave him a half hearted smile, as if to say 'sorry'. Then she left the cave.

Ronon rolled onto his side, and propped himself up on his elbow. He could hear the quiet whispers coming from outside, and wandered what was wrong. A few moments later Lyssa entered the cave.

"I have to go see someone." She told him.

"Is something wrong."

"I don't know, but I should only be a few hours."

"You're going to leave me like this." He said, showing her exactly what state he was in.

Ronon smiled, as she looked at his body, she actually looked like she was seriously considering it.

"If you don't get outta here soon, your friend out there may just come in."

Lyssa seemed to be in a trance, "What?" She said shaking her head.

"Get outta here." Ronon growled.

"Aright. I see you late." She promised, with a saucy grin.

Ronon roamed around the area for over two hours, finally he sat down and wondered where the hell she was. Ronon never stayed in, or too close, to any village, not since the Wraith, had taken it upon themselves to slaughter everyone, in one particular village that Ronon had taken refuge in. Payment for helping him. So he stayed well away from villages and it's people.

Lyssa had been gone now for over three hours, Ronon decided to go look for her.

----------

Ronon entered the village and looked around, he could see no sign of her, and he didn't even have a clue where to look. He wandered around, sidestepping to avoid several women who were talking animatedly. He tried to locate her by looking for her short blonde hair, but he couldn't see anyone with the same shade of blonde.

There was no way he was going to find her, he realised, too many people. He was just about to leave the village, when a young boy came over to him.

"You looking for Lyssa?" He asked Ronon.

"You know her?" Ronon asked.

"Yes, she's over in that building there." The young lad pointed towards the Inn.

"Thanks." Ronon headed over to the Inn, and entered.

He couldn't see her anywhere, he walked over to the guy serving food.

"You seen a woman with short blonde hair, about so height, in here." Ronon asked the man.

"Upstairs, first on the left." The man said, quickly.

Ronon frowned, he wasn't expecting to get such a precise answer, he ignored it. Moving to the stairs he headed up and found the first door on the left.

Ronon took hold of the door knob and twisted, some sixth sense told him not to open the door but, Ronon, ignored that too. He quietly, opened the door and stepped just inside the room. He stood rooted to the spot, his eyes focused on the bed in front of him.

All he could see was Lyssa, she had her back to him, and she was sitting atop some guy seductively moving her hips back and forth against him. Ronon couldn't believe what he was seeing, didn't want to believe, but there it was, right in front of him, in glorious, living, breathing, colour. The room may be dimly lit but there was no mistaking Lyssa and what she was doing.

It had only been seconds, but it had felt like hours. Ronon, in his mind, was deciding how he would go about killing the guy, use his blaster or his bare hands. Bare hands would give the more satisfaction. The man on the bed looked over at Ronon.

"Do you mind leaving, and closing the door on your way out."

Ronon saw Lyssa lean forward and kiss the guy on the lips. Not once did she turn to see who had entered the room.

Then Ronon did the most uncharacteristically thing ever. He turned on his heel and left. He didn't shoot anyone, he didn't kill anyone, he didn't do anything.

----------

Ronon didn't know how long he had been sitting there in the dark, didn't seem to be aware of anything, except the images that kept playing in his head.

"Ronon, what are you doing out here." Lyssa asked him.

Ronon, for a moment, thought he was dreaming. But when she actually touched his arm, he flinched. This wasn't happening, Ronon thought, she couldn't be here.

"Is everything alright?" She asked him.

Those three little words 'is everything alright', seemed to be the catalyst.

Ronon stood up, loomed over her, the pain he had been feeling, became intense anger.

"Is everything alright?" he repeated her question, his voice low and threatening.

He stood in front of her, his face inches from hers. He looked into her eyes, she stood there looking so innocent of any wrong. Ronon found himself turning away, turning his back to her. He couldn't keep the images out of his mind, of her and that man.

"Ronon?" She touched his arm.

"Don't." He snarled, and moved further away from her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked.

At this harsh question Ronon spun around and shouted.

"Wrong! I'll tell you 'what the hell is wrong'. You, your wrong, you and your damn lies is what's wrong."

"Lies? What lies." she'd asked, frowning.

"Don't try playing the innocent with me, it won't wash. I saw you."

"Saw me what?"

Ronon looked at her, grimaced, _deceitful bitch, he thought. How could she stand there and pretend that nothing had happened. _

"Look, Ronon, could you please explain what your talking about, because I have absolutely no idea what your going on about."

"Just go, get outta here." he told her. He didn't know how long he could keep control. The images in his head, the thoughts of what he wanted to do.

"Ronon?"

"Go, get lost, if you have an ounce of self preservation you'll go, now." He told her.

Once again she touched his arm, and Ronon groaned, turned, and grabbed her.

He forcefully pushed her back against the rock, his body pressing hard against her. He placed his mouth over hers, and kissed her, no gentleness, no tenderness, just a hard crushing kiss that was meant to hurt, to punish. She'd pushed her hands against his chest, but Ronon kept the pressure up.

Finally Lyssa had brought her knee up between his thighs, but Ronon had realised what she was doing and he had evaded her. But this evasion gave her the leeway she needed to get out of his grasp. She slid from his harsh grasp and moved away.

Ronon, though, hadn't finished, he moved towards her, Lyssa backed away. When Ronon reached for her, she hit out at him. He grunted as her hand connected with his chest. He carried on moving towards her, Lyssa threw a few more blows, which Ronon blocked or ignored.

She turned to run and he dived at her, grabbed her, and rolled, over and over, coming to rest, with Ronon pinning her to the floor. Again, he kissed her harshly, his mouth crushing hers, he tasted blood but he didn't know if it was hers or his. He roughly, moved his hands over her body, pushed her top up, lowered his mouth to her breasts, kissed, suckled, then he bit down on her soft flesh and marked her with a love bite. _No mistaking how she had gotten such a mark, he thought. _

He could see the fury in her eyes, could feel it in her tense body. He moved his hand down to her stomach, then further, reaching between her thighs he roughly pressed his hand against her, he felt her body jerk at the touch. He didn't have access to her, she was wearing clothes, he started to unzip her pants and push his hand beneath the material, pushing his hand down to reach her.

"Ronon."

He froze at the sound of his name coming from her. He seemed to come to his senses, got some kind of control back. He rolled away and stood up.

The anger inside him, quickly turned back to pain. Without turning to look at her he spoke.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're no longer a part of my life. To me, your dead." with that he picked up his gear and left.


	12. Chapter 12

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 12 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 12

Lyssa

Lyssa walked just behind the young boy, following him, as he led the way. She found out his name was Ryan.

"Is your sister alright." She asked him.

He turned his head to look at her, he looked a little nervous, or maybe he was just shy, she thought.

"I don't know she wouldn't talk to me."

"Oh, I suppose it's nothing." Lyssa remarked.

Lyssa wondered why Jenna wanted to see her at all, they weren't exactly friends, Lyssa, had only met Jenna a few days ago, having literally bumped into the young woman, knocking everything she was carrying to the floor. Lyssa had apologised and helped her gather her things. After that Lyssa had seen her on two other occasions, both times in the Inn.

It took over an hour to reach the house. Lyssa stood there and looked around, it was pretty sparse, a basic dwelling, one maybe two rooms. She looked left and saw that the village was about half a mile away. Lyssa walked up to the door, she was just about to knock on the door but it opened before she could raise her hand.

Jenna stood there, looking very young and very fragile.

Lyssa took a closer look at Jenna, she had a dark smudge on her cheekbone.

"Did someone hit you." Lyssa asked her.

Jenna looked away, and went back in the house. Lyssa followed her.

"Did someone hurt you." Lyssa asked again.

Jenna then started to tell her a story about what had happened, and how she needed someone to talk to. Lyssa understood that, she'd been in the same situation herself once.

So Lyssa sat there and listened, let Jenna get everything out. Lyssa looked at Jenna she was probably about the same age as Lyssa, twenty two, she could even be older Lyssa thought, but she seemed so much younger than Lyssa. She had long dark hair, and dark brown eyes, whereas Lyssa had short blonde hair and blue eyes.

The more Jenna talked, the more Lyssa listened and realised, something was wrong. The story Jenna was telling had too many contradictions in it. And several times Jenna had changed the story, when Lyssa had asked her, she'd just dismissed it as being forgetful. But Lyssa didn't believe her, Jenna started to look very nervous, she kept glancing away from Lyssa, checking what time it was.

"Are you expecting someone." Lyssa asked.

"No." She quickly answered.

"Do you need to be somewhere."

"No."

It was some time later, when Lyssa realised that she had been out for over four hours. Ronon would wondering where she was. Lyssa looked at Jenna, every time Lyssa had mentioned leaving Jenna had panicked and told her she couldn't go, she had to stay.

"Jenna what's going on?" Lyssa asked her, fed up of dancing around the subject

"Nothing."

"Fine, then I'll leave you to it." Lyssa, stood up and went to leave.

"It's Quinn." Jenna said. Lyssa stiffened at the name.

"What about Quinn?"

Jenna finally broke down, telling Lyssa that he had threatened her if she didn't do what he wanted. Lyssa had asked what it was, he wanted her to do. When Jenna told her what he wanted Lyssa was completely shocked, she hadn't been expecting such an answer.

"He wants me to keep you here for as long as possible."

"Do you know why?" Lyssa asked. Jenna shook her head.

Lyssa didn't wait around, she left Jenna and headed to the village. She'd find out what Quinn was up to.

Lyssa had met him four times since she and Ronon had been staying outside the village. The first two where just passing glances, and him saying hello, Lyssa had just smiled and walked passed. The third time, had been in the Inn, Quinn had sat down by her, tried to engage her in conversation, but Lyssa hadn't liked the guy. He'd tried to persuade her to leave Ronon and join him. Lyssa had laughed at him, causing him to get angry, he'd stormed off. The last incident happened five days ago, she'd punched him, sending him sprawling on to the floor, then when he tried to grab her again, she'd moved out of his way, stuck her foot out and he'd fallen face down in the dirt. She'd never told Ronon about it, because she knew how he'd react, she'd dealt with the problem herself, or thought she had.

Lyssa suspected Quinn was angry, because she had made him look a fool. He probably wanted to humiliate her in some way, like she had humiliated him.

She'd reached the village and now stood outside the Inn, she entered and immediately spotted Quinn sitting in a corner with several cronies around him. As she entered, he saw her and quickly got up and came over to her.

"Hi, there gorgeous." he said, his voice grating. He was small and stocky, with dark black hair and hard grey eyes. He also had a scar that ran down the side of his right cheek.

"What are you up to Quinn?" She asked him outright.

"Me! Up to something! No, I'm not up to anything."

Lyssa hadn't been concentrating, when Quinn grabbed her and forced his mouth on hers, kissing her. She quickly extricated herself and brought her knee up, disabling him. He bent over with the pain.

She turned to leave, as she was about to exit the door, Quinn shouted out.

"Don't forget to say hi for me, to that nice man of yours."

Lyssa frowned, he had never met Ronon, she looked at him, saw him turn away and be greeted by a woman with short blonde hair. Lyssa turned away and left.

----------

When she arrived back it was to find Ronon sitting outside in the darkness.

"Ronon, what are you doing out here." she asked him.

He looked at her strangely, something was wrong. She reached her hand out and touched his arm, she felt him flinch at the touch.

"Is everything alright?" she asked him.

She watched as Ronon stood up and moved towards her, a menacing look on his face.

"Is everything alright?" He'd said, repeating her question.

He stopped in front of her, his face inches from hers. Then he'd just turned his back to her. What was going on, she wanted to know.

"Ronon?" She touched him again.

"Don't" He snarled at her, moved further away from her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked him.

She watched as he spun round and started to shout.

"Wrong! I'll tell you 'what the hell is wrong'. You, you're wrong, you and your damn lies is what's wrong."

"Lies? What lies?" she asked. _What the hell had happened, she wondered. She'd only been gone for a few hours. _

"Don't try playing the innocent with me, it won't wash. I saw you."

"Saw me what?" She asked.

"Look, Ronon, could you please explain what you're talking about, because I have absolutely no idea what you're going on about." She asked him. _Just what the hell was it, he'd seen her doing._

"Just go, get outta here." he told her.

She couldn't believe what he was saying, didn't have a clue what he was talking about, and he was telling her to 'go'.

"Ronon?"

"Go, get lost, if you have an ounce of self preservation in you, you'll go, now" he'd snarled at her.

She touched his arm, trying to get him to look at her, wanted him to listen to her. But he'd spun around and grabbed her.

Pushing her back against the rock, she winced as the jagged edges dug into her skin. He pressed his body against hers crushingly. Then he'd kissed her, like he'd never kissed her before. The kiss wasn't intended to be pleasurable, there was no gentleness, no tenderness, just hard crushing punishment. The pressure of his body against hers was causing the rock to dig deeply into her skin, she tried to push him back, but he didn't budge. She wasn't even sure he realised what he was doing.

She couldn't think of anything else to do, so she brought her knee up to his groin, not forcefully, but with enough force that would make him let go of her. Before she connected with him, he moved back evading her knee, this gave her enough room to slide down and away.

She stood there looking at him, she'd never seen him acting like this, at least not towards her. He walked menacingly towards her, and she backed away. He reached for her and she hit out at him, catching him in the chest, he grunted. But he didn't stop.

She turned around and went to get away, but before she got two feet away he dived at her. They rolled over and over till finally they stopped. Ronon pinned her to the floor. Ronon again kissed her forcing his mouth against hers, he started to run his hands roughly over her body. She felt his mouth on her breasts, felt his teeth as he bit into her flesh, draw the skin into his mouth.

This was getting out of hand, and she was not about to lie here and take whatever he decided to dish out, for something, she knew nothing about. When his hand moved down to her stomach, then even further, reaching between her thighs, roughly pressing his hand against her. She jerked, tried to pull her hips back, but there was nothing she could do. He then started to unzip her pants, pushing his hand further down.

"Ronon!" She shouted, angry.

This caused him to stop, within seconds he rolled away from her, and stood up. With his back to her, he spoke.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're no longer a part of my life. To me, your dead." with that he picked up his gear and left.

Lyssa was shocked by the venom in his voice. She ran after him, tried to get him to tell her what it was that he'd seen.

"I saw you with that man." He shouted at her, looking at her as though he hated her.

_All this over a lousy kiss, she thought. Was he crazy, wasn't this a little excessive._

"You saw what he did to me and you didn't do anything." She asked him.

She saw his jaw clench, watched his eyes close, and wondered what was going through his mind.

"Don't try turning this back on me." He told her.

"But if you'd let me explain what it was you saw, then..."

"I don't need an explanation, so anything to have to say is irrelevant, and I don't want to hear it."

"If you loved me..." She started to say.

"I don't love you, never have done, never will." Ronon said, with such conviction, that she believed he really didn't love her.

"You want to watch those words don't come back to haunt you one day." She told him.

"Well thankfully, it won't be from you." He turned and walked away, and she let him.

She couldn't believe that Ronon would act like this over seeing her being kissed by another man, something else had gone on and she wanted to find out what. Angry, she made her way to the Inn, Quinn had something to do with this, she knew it.

----------

She entered the Inn like a tornado, and headed straight for Quinn. He looked slightly flustered as she headed towards him.

"What did you do?" She shouted at him.

"Me, I didn't do anything."

"You did something to Ronon." She told him.

"Oh, that, he just got a little upset when he saw my new girlfriend."

"Come over here, sweety" He said, motioning to a woman.

The woman came over and Lyssa looked at her, she was the same woman Lyssa had seen before, short blonde hair, similar build to Lyssa, she could be mistaken for Lyssa.

"You bastard." She spat at Quinn, she knew what he'd done. Knew what Ronon thought he'd seen. Could imagine the images before him.

Then she hit Quinn, sent him flying backwards, on to a table, flattening it. She turned

and left.

----------

"Have you two been drugged, or something. Come on, it's time to wake up." The voice shouted.

Lyssa opened her eyes, to see Sheppard standing a few feet away, looking between her and Ronon, who was also, just waking up, across the other side of the room.

Lyssa shivered, tried to shake off the emotions the memories had created. This was going to be a long, hard, day she thought, seeing Ronon watching her, glaring at her.


	13. Chapter 13

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 13 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 13

Everyone was standing around, waiting for Sheppard to decide how they would go about searching this place. McKay was staying where he was, to keep deciphering the data base, Sean was to pair up with Teyla. And Lyssa, she was was with Sheppard, Ronon, well Ronon could go by himself, he usually did anyway.

McKay was excitedly tapping away on the Ancient Console, muttering to himself.

"You found something McKay?" Sheppard asked him.

No response from McKay, he was too deep into whatever he'd found.

"McKay!" Sheppard said loudly.

"Mmm." McKay grunted, then looked up, to see what was wrong.

"Have you found something?"

"I'm not sure, I've just found a programme that has the capacity to hold an enormous amount of memory. It must have a lot of data in there. I'm just trying to access it." He said tapping on a few computer keys.

No one saw, or took any notice, to the circle that was etched on to the floor. Compared to everything else that was in the room, the circle, was insignificant.

Ronon was standing further back than everyone else, his arms folded, listening to McKay waffle on. He hung his head down and looked at the floor, noticed the circle etched there, saw, that he was standing in the centre of, said circle, and ignored it.

McKay was still trying to gain access to the programme, tapping away on the console, still muttering to himself. Suddenly he looked up, excited, and announced that he had gained access to the programme. He smiled, put his finger on the enter button, and pushed.

A beam of light shot out of the ceiling, it centred on the circle Ronon was standing on, everyone stepped back, away from the light. But Ronon, couldn't, it had him trapped, held firm. Lyssa moved closer to the light, she could see that Ronon was in some discomfort, but it didn't look as bad as the one Sheppard had been in, at least she hoped it wasn't, this force field, or whatever it was, looked completely different.

"McKay, what the hell did you do?" Sheppard shouted.

"I didn't do anything." McKay said, nervously, looking at the data on the screen.

Sheppard glared at him.

Lyssa reached her hand out to the light, gingerly, she pushed her fingers forward, slowly they entered the light, she couldn't feel any pain. But as her fingers passed through the light and entered the inner part of the beam, an electrical jolt shot through her hand, forcing her to pull her hand out quickly. Her hand tingled painfully from the jolt.

"You got any ideas?" Sheppard asked, turning to Sean.

"I've never seen anything like it before." He told Sheppard.

"McKay, figure out what you did, and undo it."

"Oh yes, blame the scientist..." He started to waffle.

"Not now, McKay. Save it!" Sheppard warned him. "Just figure the damn thing out."

Lyssa picked a small, glass like, object up from the table and gently threw it at the light, it penetrated and landed on the floor at Ronon's feet.

"Well what ever it is, it isn't a force field." She commented.

Sheppard was just about to berate McKay for taking so long when the beam of light shut off. Ronon, dropped to the floor.

Sheppard and Lyssa moved towards Ronon.

"McKay find out what that thing is, and what it's used for."

"Fine."

Lyssa knelt down by Ronon, Sheppard was feeling for a pulse.

"Is he alright?" She asked him.

"Seems to be, his pulse is fine." Sheppard said.

Ronon started moving, rolled on to his back, opened his eyes and then closed them. A few seconds later he opened his eyes again, looked around, then Lyssa saw his whole body tense. She quickly stepped back, she'd seen this before. She tried to warn the others but, within seconds, chaos ensued, as Ronon stood up, pulled his blaster from its holster and pointed it at everyone in the room. He pointed it at Sheppard, then Teyla, moved on to Sean, then McKay and finally Lyssa.

"Ronon?" Sheppard said, nervously.

Everyone in the room stayed completely still, knowing how accurate Ronon was, no one wanted to attract his attention. Teyla adjusted her position, fractionally, and that was all he needed, Ronon aimed and fired. Everyone dived for cover, but Teyla was unfortunate enough to get hit by the blast. Lyssa fired her weapon just to the side of Ronon. He quickly exited one of the doors leading from the room, and vanished.

Lyssa and Sheppard were making sure that Teyla was alright, Sheppard just prayed that Ronon had left his blaster on stun.

"She's fine." Lyssa said.

They moved Teyla to a more comfortable place.

"What the hell just happened?" Sheppard shouted, looking towards McKay.

"This can't be right!" McKay's voice rang out.

"What now?" Sheppard asked, wondering what else could go wrong.

"The programme, with the huge memory capacity. Well it doesn't, exactly, store computer memory."

Sheppard narrowed his eyes on McKay. "So what does it store 'exactly'?" He asked.

"Well, it...er..." McKay looked extremely nervous.

"Spit it out McKay, what does it store." Sheppard waited.

"Well, it stores, memories."

Sheppard frowned, he didn't understand what McKay was getting at.

"Memories, you know, birthdays, holidays, people you know, things you remember." McKay told him.

Sheppard, narrowed his eyes, and looked right at McKay "Are you telling me, Ronon doesn't have any memory."

"Yes." McKay said quietly.

"You erased all his memories?" Sheppard asked incredulously.

"I, didn't erase anything, the machine did."

"No memories, whatsoever?" Sheppard asked.

"Well, he still has any learned abilities, you know how to breath, how to eat, walk etc." He said.

"Kill?" Sheppard threw in.

"Well, yes." McKay admitted.

"So he doesn't remember us, but he knows how to kill us. Great, that's all we need." Sheppard muttered.

"Is it reversible? Can you fix it?." Sheppard wanted to know.

"I don't know, I haven't gotten that far, yet."

"Then get that far."

Sheppard, realised that he would have to come up with a plan to capture Ronon, how he was going to do that, he had no idea. He looked around, Teyla was out of the question, it would be a while before she would be able to do anything. McKay, he needed him to find out how to reverse the problem. Sheppard looked over, at Sean, the guy was certainly capable of handling himself, but Sheppard didn't want him going after Ronon. No telling how this guy might react if he came face to face with Ronon. So that left only Lyssa. Now, he knew she could handle Ronon.

"You got any ideas, on how to catch Ronon?" Lyssa asked him.

"Mm, how close do you think you could get to Ronon?" Sheppard asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked warily.

"Well do you think you could get close enough, to use a Wraith Stunner on him."

"I don't know. But what happens if the Stunner has no effect on him. I mean, you must have seen Ronon take a hit from a Stunner, and not go down."

"Yes, I have." He said, sounding disappointed.

"Do you have a backup plan?" She asked.

"I'm working on it." He lied.

"I wouldn't take too much time on it, if I were you. Ronon won't be out there for long, once he gets his bearings... ."

"Okay, the only other option we have is to just go out there and look for him, hope we see him before he sees us." Sheppard didn't sound very sure.

"That's your backup plan?" She asked. Sheppard scowled at her.

----------

Ten minutes later and Lyssa had Teyla's ear piece in, so that she could communicate with Sheppard. Sheppard had given her the Wraith Stunner, assuming that she would have the better chance of using it.

"McKay, lock all these doors once we've gone."

"As if I needed to be told that." McKay snorted.

Sheppard and Lyssa left, closed the door behind them and heard it lock. The lighting in this area was dimmer than in the control room, there were plenty of shadows to hide in, she thought.

After about half an hour of searching, and finding nothing. Sheppard suggested that they split up, they might have a better chance of finding him.

"What about the Stunner, wouldn't it be better if you had it." She asked him.

"No, I think you'll have a better chance of finding him, so you should have it."

Another half an hour and Lyssa contacted Sheppard on the radio, to ask if he had found anything, but he hadn't. She was just about to move on to the next area, when she heard a sound. She froze, then she quietly backed up into the shadows, and waited.

A few minutes passed, and she hadn't heard another sound, she was just about to move, but something stopped her. The hairs on the back of her neck and her arms stood on end, she knew he was behind her, how close, she couldn't tell. Would she be able to get away from him, get far enough away where she could use the Stunner on him. She was just about to chance it when Ronon wrapped his arms around her, from behind, clamping her arms to her sides. Then he put his hand over her mouth and nose, she struggled, but it was no use,she felt herself losing consciousness.

Slowly, she began to wake up, she opened her eyes, she was lying on her back, she moved her head to the side, and as usual, Ronon was sitting there, watching her. She noticed that he wasn't glaring at her, but she didn't know if this was a good sign or a bad one.

She sat up and looked around, but there wasn't much to see, a couple of computer consoles, a chair and a small table in the corner, other than that the room was pretty bare. She looked down and saw that she had been lying on Ronon's coat, she glanced at Ronon, he was still watching. Trying to be casual about it, she reached a hand behind her back, and felt the back of her pants for the Stunner.

"Looking for this?" Ronon asked, holding the Wraith Stunner between his fingers.

She didn't answer him, there was no need, he already knew the answer.

What she couldn't fathom, was, if he had any memories, did he recognise her. She then realised Sheppard was out there, somewhere. She went to touch the radio to contact Sheppard, but before she reached it, she saw Ronon move, she looked at him and saw the ear piece in his hand. He didn't ask her if she was looking for it.

Frustrated she sat there and wondered what the next move would be, or who would actually make the next move. She decided, she'd make the next move, she stood up, heard the shuffling sound across from her, and saw Ronon, also standing up, still watching, and waiting.

Now that she was standing, she wished she'd stayed on the floor, Ronon hadn't seemed to be so large and menacing down there. She didn't have a clue, as to what she was going to do. She tensed, Ronon was moving towards her, she backed up till she couldn't go any further. The way Ronon was looking at her, or wasn't looking at her, made her breath catch in her throat. He wasn't looking at her with anger or hatred in his eyes, just a confused, puzzled expression.

He stopped in front of her, his eyes watching her, intensely. Lyssa could feel her emotions building, Ronon reached up and touched her hair, moved his hand down to the side of her face. Lyssa had to close her eyes, if she continued to look at Ronon, she knew she'd lose it completely. With his palm against the side of her face, he moved his thumb, pressing it against her bottom lip. Involuntary, Lyssa opened her mouth at the slight pressure, then she felt Ronon's mouth on hers. He kissed her, softly, moving his mouth against hers, increasing the pressure slightly, he stroked his tongue along the inside of her lower lip, then his teeth, gently, tugged at it.

Lyssa's emotions, had build up so much that they were now flooding out of her, tears flowed down her cheeks, Ronon ignored them, and carried on kissing her. She could taste the salty tears on his lips. It had been a long time since she had felt like this. Not being able to hold back any longer, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

Their exchanges became a little more heated, Ronon pushed her top up, pulled it over her head and dropped it on the floor. He cupped one breast, rubbed his thumb over the sensitive nipple, felt her body shudder at his touch. Then he lowered his mouth down to her other breast, rasped his tongue across the nipple and drew it into his mouth. Her body arched, pushing her breast more firmly against his mouth. She'd placed her hand against the back of his head, holding him against her. She pulled his head up, and pressed her mouth over his, she felt his tongue against her teeth, she pressed her tongue against his, kissing him deeply

She reached her hand between their bodies, stroked it down his chest, down his abdomen, reaching her goal, she started to stroke him. She could feel the heat through his pants, he was hard, and throbbing. She moved her hand against him, but this wasn't enough. She pushed his pants down, freeing him, she took hold of him, he was so hot in her hand, she felt him jerk at her touch. She started to slowly move her hand along his length, felt him pressing more firmly against her hold. She increased the pressure of her fingers around his shaft, then she rubbed her hand along the length. She felt his abdomen tighten as she worked her hand against him. Felt him moving his hips rhythmically against her hand.

It wasn't long before he took hold of her hand and stilled her movements. He had his face in the curve of her neck, his body was pressed firmly against her, and she could feel the slight tremors running through his body, knew he was trying to get control.

He pulled back from her slightly, pushed her pants down, letting them fall around her ankles, Lyssa moved her feet, pushed the pants away. Then she felt his hand against her, felt him rubbing the sensitised nub, she felt an uncontrollable shudder run through her body, heard him give a low throaty groan at her reaction to his touch.

"Ronon, please." She cried, placing her hand over his, and pressing his hand harder against her. It wasn't enough.

He took his hand away, grabbed her thighs, lifted her, pressed her hard against the wall, then he moved his hips against her. Moving one of his hands between them, he took hold of his shaft and positioned himself against her, then, he pushed slowly. Lyssa could feel her body stretching to accommodate his length. When he'd fully penetrated her, he stilled, let her body adjust to him. Then, he slowly withdrew, she could feel herself clenching against his shaft. Lyssa couldn't find any leverage to press herself against him, so she wrapped her legs around him, and hooked her feet behind his buttocks.

He moved against her, in an ever increasing tempo, it felt like each thrust went deeper than the last, and she knew, she wouldn't last long. Knew, this situation wouldn't last long. She dug her fingers into his hair and gently tugged, raising his head back, she pressed her mouth over his, pushing her tongue in she stroked it against his. A moan escaped from her throat, as Ronon quickened his thrusts, his shaft slicked back and forth inside her, she felt her stomach clench and jerk as she climaxed. Ronon, slowed his thrusts for a few seconds, while her body clenched against him, then he quickened the pace again, deeper and deeper he pushed till he felt his body pulsate and spill into hers.

Lyssa didn't remember them lying down on the floor, but they must have, because she was now lying down next to Ronon, her eyes slowly closed as the tiredness took over. She didn't hear Ronon saying her name against her neck.

----------

Lyssa sat with her back against the wall, her knees pulled up, her hands resting on her bent knees, in one of her hands she held the Stunner. She was looking at Ronon, who was still asleep, or unconscious, she didn't know which. She'd woken up a short while ago, Ronon, still beside her, was asleep. She'd pulled her clothes on and then she'd turned to look down at him. She'd then raised the Wraith Stunner and shot him with it.

He was just lying there, he still had his pants on, but his shirt was over by the wall. His feet were manacled by the plastic straps that Sheppard had given her, as were his wrists, which she'd tied behind his back. She still didn't know if he had any memories, because neither of them had said much.

Her body was still tingling from their lovemaking, and she couldn't stop thinking of everything that they had lost, and everything they would never have, and the tears had rolled down her cheeks, now, she couldn't turn them off.

A while later, she stood up, she couldn't look at him any more it was too painful. She left the room and waited outside. She contacted Sheppard and told him that she had Ronon. Ten minutes later Sheppard stood in front of her.

"Are you alright?" He asked her, noticing the tear stained cheeks.

"I will be." She answered.

"Ronon, didn't hurt you, did he?" Sheppard asked, afraid that Ronon might have gone too far.

"No, he didn't hurt me." She told him.

"Is he mad?"

"I don't know, he was unconscious."

Sheppard entered the room, Lyssa held back, she didn't want to go in there again, not yet.

"Go and see if McKay has figured out how to reverse this, yet." Sheppard told her. Lyssa didn't wait around, she left.

Back at the command centre, McKay told her that Ronon's memory loss was only temporary, that the effects only lasted a few hours.

Lyssa did not want to be here when Ronon came back, so she asked Sean about the transporter. Apparently, they didn't have to make the return journey the same way. They could use a transporter, which would deposit them, exactly where they had met Sheppard, on the incline. So Lyssa, used the transporter and left.


	14. Chapter 14

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 14 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 14

Ronon, woke from a nightmare, where, he hadn't been able to move, to find out that he really couldn't move, his arms and his feet where tied. His shoulders hurt like hell, he heard a sound and turned his head towards it, Sheppard.

"Hey, buddy, how you feeling." Sheppard asked, watching him closely.

"Why am I tied up?" Ronon asked.

"Because we're not too sure if you're in your right mind."

Ronon dropped his head down to rest it on the floor.

"Do you remember anything?" Sheppard, asked him.

_Remember, Ronon thought, he remembered ever second, every touch, every smell, everything._

"What's the last thing you remember?" Sheppard, continued.

_The intense pleasure he had gotten when he'd felt his body spilling inside hers._

"If you don't answer the questions, how are we supposed to know if you're alright?" Sheppard asked.

"Fine." Ronon said, then started to give Sheppard details and facts about passed missions and experiences.

"Alright," Sheppard said, raising his hand up to stop Ronon continuing, "You've proved your point." Sheppard cut the ties from Ronon's hands and feet.

"So when did you get your memory back?" Sheppard asked, curious.

Ronon tried to remember.

He'd been shadowing Sheppard and Lyssa since they had left the command room. He'd been on his way back there, when the door had opened, and they had exited, so he'd followed them. He'd watched them looking for him, their guns, pointing ready to use, ready to fire, presumably, at him Ronon concluded.

Ronon decided that he'd had enough, he'd changed the setting on his blaster to kill, and he'd pointed it at Sheppard. He was just about to fire when an image flashed in his mind. The image had been of Sheppard, sitting across from him laughing and joking. Ronon didn't know what it had meant, but it had disturbed him enough to stop him from firing.

He continued to follow them, several more images flashed in his mind, but none of them made things more clearer for him. In one image Sheppard looked friendly, in another he was pointing a gun at him, so Ronon didn't know it the guy was a friend or someone looking to kill him.

Ronon had decided if he wanted to find anything out, the woman would be his best choice, she'd be easier to handle than the man.

When Sheppard and Lyssa had split up, Ronon had followed her, he'd entered the same dark room, right after her, moving to hide in the shadows. When he'd accidentally trodden on something, he saw her back into the shadows. He'd quickly moved closer, eventually moving to stand behind her.

As soon as he'd grabbed her, he'd felt that they'd been in this exact same position before. In his mind he could see himself holding her, exactly like he was doing now, only before, she'd been more animated in her struggling. He held his hand against her mouth till she'd fallen in to unconsciousness then he'd carried her to a room, laid her down and sat back to watch her.

A number of images had played in his mind, most of them had been of a sexual nature,

so he definitely knew her. The more he sat there and watched, the more images he got. He'd found the images very pleasing and his body had reacted to those images, so much, that when she'd woken up, he'd been highly aroused.

He looked at the Stunner in his hand, he'd taken it from the back of her pants, he just wondered if she would have used it on him. He saw her waking up, looking around, checking for the Stunner.

When she'd stood up, he'd immediately followed suit, he'd wanted to copy some of the images that had been playing in his mind. So he'd moved towards her, touched her, and began playing out the scenes in his head.

Ronon also knew that he'd remembered almost everything, just before he'd entered her body. He'd also quashed several images, knowing that if he'd let the images into his mind, he wouldn't be able to carry on doing what he so desperately wanted to do, so he'd quickly let the images go, and continued to make love to her.

At the final release, he had all his memories back, every single one of them. But still he hadn't been able to let go of her, he'd laid her down and settle beside her, holding her for a while longer. He'd kissed her neck and whispered her name, to see if she would respond but she'd been asleep.

"So?" Sheppard asked, looking at Ronon expectantly.

"What?" Ronon asked.

"When did you get your memory back."

"A few minutes ago." Ronon, lied.

"Well, come on then, we'd better get back," Sheppard said, turning to look at Ronon. "You'll probably have to do some apologising when you get back there."

"What for?"

"You shot Teyla."

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine, lucky for us you still had your blaster on stun."

When they got back, they where immediately informed by McKay, that he had found a number of programmes, that he would be able to implement into Atlantis' systems. And that the programmes would greatly improve their security, and allow them to access even more of the Ancient Data Base, than before.

Ronon looked around, there was no sign of Lyssa, he wondered where she was, but he wasn't going to ask.

Satisfied with their find, Sheppard had decided it was time to leave, he looked around.

"Where's Lyssa?"

"She left, she's waiting at the incline, where we first met you." Sean told him.

Ronon tensed, he didn't like the sound of that, she shouldn't have gone all that way back, on her own. Then he heard Sean telling Sheppard about the transporter.

"Why didn't we just use the transporter to get here?" McKay asked.

"It only transports one way."

"Yes, it would, wouldn't it." McKay said, sarcastically.

Everyone else had gone, leaving Sheppard and Ronon the last ones to leave. They entered the transporter, and a few moments later, they were standing on the incline where it had all began.


	15. Chapter 15

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 15 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 15

Lyssa felt a little apprehensive when she saw the others, exiting the transporter. Ever since she had arrived here, on her own, all she had done, was think about how good it had felt, to be with Ronon again.

"Everything alright?" Sean asked, breaking into her thoughts.

"Everything is fine." She answered, tensing as she saw Ronon and Sheppard coming out of the transporter.

"Yeah, I can see that." Sean whispered, seeing how she reacted to Ronon's appearance.

Lyssa and Sean were just waiting to complete the trade and be on their way. Lyssa watched as Sheppard began talking into his radio. She wondered what he was talking about, why was he taking so long. All she wanted to do was go, it was getting harder to be around Ronon, especially after their last incident. She turned her back to the others and looked out across the expanse of open fields. She heard someone approaching them, and turned.

"Hey, Doctor Weir, just gave her permission, to allow you guys to come back to Atlantis with us, to finish the trade, she'd also like to meet you, thank you personally for all the help you've given us." Sheppard told them, a big grin on his handsome face. He didn't see the desperate look Lyssa had thrown at Sean. But there was nothing he could do, if they were ever going to get his sister back, they needed every job they could get, and this trade with Sheppard and his people, could lead to more jobs.

----------

Lyssa and Sean were sitting in the back of the Puddle Jumper, Sheppard and McKay where in the two front seats, Ronon and Teyla in the seats directly behind them. Lyssa chose to sit on the same side as Ronon, this meant he had his back to her, he would have to turn all the way around to look at her, which wasn't something he was likely to do, she thought. It seemed to take forever before they finally reached Atlantis.

Sean and Lyssa where introduced to Doctor Weir, who thanked them for all their help, then Sean and Doctor Weir vanished in to her office, to finish the trade. Lyssa was standing around, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do.

"Come on, I'll show you to a room, you can use. You can catch up on some sleep or freshen up." Sheppard said, leading her down a long corridor.

"Here, you can use this while you're here." Sheppard, opened the door and motioned for her to enter.

She entered the room, she noticed a bed, a couple of chairs, and a small table.

"If there's anything you need just ask, someone will help if they can."

"Thanks, I do feel a little tired, so I think I'll just get some sleep, before Sean and I have to leave."

"I'll leave you to it then." With that, he left.

Back in the Command Centre, Ronon, was just arriving at Weir's office, when Sheppard was coming out of it.

"Go find Teyla, we've got a little errand to run." Sheppard told him. Ronon raised his eyebrows, in question.

"I'll tell you in the Jumper." Sheppard told him.

----------

Seated in the Puddle Jumper, and headed through the Stargate, Sheppard explained what was going on.

"You remember that guy, name of Fenton?"

"Yes, I remember him." Ronon answered.

"Well he contacted Weir, says he has a valuable piece of information. Wants to trade for it. And seeing as he's always come through before, Weir is taking him at his word. So we have to meet him and trade, simple." Sheppard smiled.

Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla landed the Jumper, then they walked the short distance to the village. Ronon had immediately recognised his surroundings the minute they had come through the Stargate. Now they were headed to the one place Ronon had never wanted to see again.

Sheppard entered the Inn first, followed by Teyla, and finally Ronon. Fenton, was nowhere to be seen, so they sat down a decided to wait for a while.

"Hey isn't that Lyssa over there?" Sheppard asked, shocked.

"Where?" Teyla asked, turning to see.

"There, in the corner." Sheppard, pointed across the room.

"That's not Lyssa, although, she could be mistaken for Lyssa, if you didn't look too closely." Teyla commented.

Neither Sheppard nor Teyla, where aware of how still, Ronon had become at their exchange of words.

After a few moment, Ronon finally looked over to where Sheppard had been pointing. He spotted her immediately, and he noticed, she had spotted him. Her features had blanched at the sight of Ronon.

Ronon stood up, his only focus was the woman across the room, he headed directly for her.

"Ronon?" Sheppard asked, "Where are you going?"

Ronon didn't even hear Sheppard, all his attention was on the woman. He stopped in front of her, looked at her short blonde hair, which was a little longer than the last time, her features, when you looked more closely at her, were nothing like Lyssa's. With total disregard for anything or anyone, Ronon grabbed her arm, pulled her up, turned around, and started dragging her behind him, out of the Inn.

Ronon had only gone a few feet, when he heard the scrape of a chair being pushed back, knew someone had stood up. So he'd stopped, not letting go of the woman, Ronon had turned to look, the man standing there, glaring at Ronon, was a few inches shorter than Ronon, with a muscular build, and he was looking for a fight.

"You got a problem?" Ronon asked him.

The guy was just about to say 'hell,yes he had a problem', but the death threatening look Ronon was giving him, made him change his mind.

"No, no problem."

Ronon turned back and carried on dragging the woman out of the Inn. Totally ignoring Sheppard. He found a quiet spot, then he swung her around, so that she stood in front of him. He looked at her, he didn't say anything.

She was nervously looking from him, to the floor, but never looking directly into his eyes.

"Look, I..." She stammered, "It wasn't..." She tried again. She couldn't talk when he was looking at her like that, he looked like he was just waiting for the opportunity to kill her.

"It was Quinn, he.., he wanted your woman, but she wouldn't have anything to do with him. Then when she made a laughing stock of him, he got really mad. Kept saying that he'd get her back for making him look a fool in front of everyone. So, he found me in one of the villages, he promised me a job, if I... . He brought me back here, coloured my hair, and..."

"And set me up." Ronon said harshly, finally, he knew the truth.

She nodded.

Ronon looked at her, and wondered how he could ever have mistaken her for Lyssa, she wasn't anything like Lyssa. He saw the bruising on her neck and arms, he wondered if this Quinn had given them to her, but he didn't really care. Then he saw her eyes open wide, as if she were afraid. Ronon turned around to see what had caught her attention.

Quinn, was walking along the street towards the Inn. Ronon headed straight for him, not seeing Sheppard or Teyla coming out of the doorway of the Inn. He stopped in front of Quinn, all his anger, frustration, pain, all centred on this man before him.

"Find it easy to control women do you?" Ronon said his voice low and menacing.

"What?" Quinn answered, then he looked more closely at Ronon, and he went very pale.

"No woman would ever want you, hell the only women you get, you have to buy." Ronon continued to goad the guy, belittle his masculinity, question whether he was even a real man.

Then Ronon turned his back, and walked, very slowly, away. Ronon waited for the man to make his move, and Ronon knew that turning his back on the guy, would have given him a false sense of victory. Quinn pulled a gun from his person and fired at Ronon.

Ronon, who had been expecting this, moved, turned and fired his blaster, Quinn dropped to the floor, dead.

"Ronon, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Sheppard asked, a little shocked by Ronon's behaviour. Looking around Sheppard saw that no body seemed to be that bothered that a man had just been killed.

"You just goaded that man in to a fight." Sheppard, accused him.

"Did I?"

"You know you did, now what the hell is going on. What's wrong with you?"

"Maybe I'll tell you one day." Ronon said, then he left and headed to the Jumper. Leaving Sheppard and Teyla to deal with any problems he had left behind.


	16. Chapter 16

Title: Behind the Mask  
Author: Kazavid  
Chapter: 16 / 16  
Rating: NC-17  
Pairing: Ronon Dex, Other  
Archiving: None  
Warnings: Sexual content  
Spoilers: None  
Feedback: Yes  
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters do not belong to me.  
Summary: While searching for an Ancient Outpost, Ronon meets a part of his past he thought he had put behind him.

Chapter 16

"Teyla, go after Ronon, make sure he doesn't smash up the Jumper." Sheppard told her, his voice raised.

Teyla raised her eyebrow at Sheppard's request.

"Just go." Sheppard asked, in a calmer voice.

"Will you be alright?" She asked, looking around at the people who were now coming to look at Quinn's body.

"Yes."

When Sheppard got back to the Jumper, it was to find Ronon and Teyla, sitting quietly, waiting. Without saying anything he started the Jumper up and headed for the Stargate.

As soon as they got back to Atlantis, Ronon was out of the Jumper, not giving Sheppard a chance to say anything. Sheppard was pretty sure he knew where Ronon was going, so he didn't try to stop him.

----------

Ronon entered the room Lyssa was using, and found her asleep. She was lying on the bed with just a sheet covering her. Ronon sat on a chair in the corner of the room and waited for her to wake up. He thought about all the time that they'd lost, because of him. He sat up, leaned over, then resting his elbows on his knees, he pressed his face into his hands. He wasn't sure why he was here, what he expected from her, after all, she already knew the truth.

Ronon stood up, intending to leave, but as he got closer to the door he hesitated. He glanced back at the bed, at Lyssa, he needed to know, he couldn't go without knowing, so he sat back down and waited.

It was late evening on Atlantis, and Ronon was still sitting in the chair, waiting. He'd been there for over two hours, his mind replaying memories, one particular memory seemed to plague him more than the others. It had been the last thing they had said to each other. Ronon closed his eyes and remembered.

Memory

"If you loved me..." she'd started to say.

"I don't love you, never have done, never will." Ronon had stated.

"You want to watch those words don't come back to haunt you one day." She'd told him.

"Well thankfully, it won't be from you." He'd told her.

End

Ronon opened his eyes, well, those words where certainly coming back to haunt him now, he thought. He'd been so angry and full of pain when he'd said those things, all he'd wanted to do was hurt her, like he'd been hurting.

Lyssa, began waking up, she moved her arms from beneath the sheet and stretched her whole body, she didn't hear the harshly drawn in breath, from across the room. It took a minute or two for her senses to register that she was not alone. Quickly, she sat up and looked towards the chair, it was too dark to see any features, but she knew who it was, Ronon.

"Ronon?" She whispered, but got no answer. She just knew something was wrong.

She wasn't wearing any clothes, so she wrapped the sheet around her body and slowly moved to sit on the edge of the bed. He still hadn't spoken. She stood up, feeling a little apprehensive she moved towards him.

"Has something happened?" She asked.

She was standing just a few feet away from him.

"It was all my fault." She heard him say quietly, the pain in his voice cut through her. She immediately knew what he was talking about.

"It wasn't all you fault, Ronon." She told him.

"If I'd... " He began to speak but she interrupted him.

"Don't do this Ronon, please."

"I want it back." She heard him say.

"I want it all back, all the time we've lost, all the things we've missed."

Lyssa reached her hand out to touch him, but she lost her nerve, she pulled her hand back, but Ronon grabbed hold of her arm before she did. He pulled her closer, till she was standing between his legs, then he pulled her down to sit on his knee. He lifted her legs up, letting them rest over the arm of the chair. He put his hand against the back of her head and pressed her face against his shoulder. She felt him nuzzling his face against her.

Lyssa couldn't stop herself from reacting to Ronon's touch, she didn't want to. She began placing kissed against his skin, kissing his shoulder, working her way up to his neck, his jaw line, and finally his lips. She tentatively kissed him, felt Ronon tightening his arms around her and pulling her even closer against him.

Ronon tugged at the sheet that she had wrapped around her, loosening it, finally he tugged it off completely. Ronon took his fill of her nakedness, then he began stroking his hands over the silken skin, stopping to caress her breasts, taking her nipple between his fingers, he rubbed his thumb across the sensitive bud. He felt her adjusting her sitting position on his lap, he couldn't stop the deep groan that this movement elicited from him, as her buttocks rubbed against his erection. He held her still for a moment, savoured the feel of her against him.

Lyssa moved away from him, and Ronon felt cold at the loss of contact with her. But within seconds she was back, she sat on his lap, facing him, her knees either side of his thighs. She started kissing him, placing kissed everywhere she had access to, he felt her rubbing her buttocks against him, he put his hands on her waist, held her still while he pressed his hips closer, he needed the contact with her, needed to ease the ache, that was becoming painful. Lyssa put her hands on his pants and tried to push them down, but she wasn't getting anywhere.

Ronon moved her hands away and replaced them with his own, he started to push his pants off. But the moment his erection was free, Lyssa took hold of him, positioned her body against him and slowly sank down. Ronon felt her inner flesh squeezing him, she was so tight. She dropped her head down to his chest, he could feel her breath against his skin, knew she was close to losing it. Ronon himself was also close to losing it. He couldn't wait any longer, he grabbed hold of her hips and began moving her against him, thrusting up every time he pulled her hips down. Lyssa had her face pressed against the side of his neck, he could hear the faint moans she gave at every thrust he pushed home. Ronon felt the pressure building in his shaft, felt her body clenching every time he withdrew, felt her body jerk at every thrust, he felt her body contract on him, her thighs tightened against his, Ronon drew back and pushed one last time, hard and deep, sending both of them over the edge.

Neither of them wanted to move, didn't want to break the contact that they had, didn't want to disturb the status quo. How long they stayed in the chair, neither of them was sure. It was only when Ronon felt Lyssa shiver that he realised how cold she was. He tightened his hold on her and stood up.

"What are you doing?" She asked, at the disturbance.

"Putting you to bed." He told her.

As Ronon placed her on the bed Lyssa lifted her head up and looked at Ronon going to sit on the side of the bed. She lifted her hand up and halted him.

"Don't you dare!" She told him.

Ronon hesitated, feeling a bit unsure, he answered. "What's wrong?" He asked her.

"You are not getting in to this bed." She told him, Ronon tensed, "Not if you're wearing clothes, I am not going to be the only one naked, again. So if you want to get in to this bed, strip." She told him.

Ronon didn't need to be told again, he had his clothes off before she could blink, and joined her on the bed. There wasn't much foreplay between them, before Ronon moved to lie over her, Lyssa eagerly moved her thighs apart, to let him settle his weight there. Ronon pushed in slowly, too slowly for Lyssa, she moved her hands down to his hips, trying to hurry him up. Ronon wasn't about to let her speed things up, so he took hold of her hands and pinned them against the bed, above her head.

Not being able to touch him with her hands, seemed to intensify the pleasure. Everything centred on Ronon and how much or how little he gave. Ronon began teasing her, slowly moving against her, pulling his shaft out then slowly pushing back in, he quicken his thrusts until she was almost at the peak, but just before she reached it, he'd stop, Lyssa was almost sobbing with frustration. Eventually, Ronon found that he couldn't hold back any longer he quickened his thrusts, felt her body jerking beneath him, a few moments later he felt his own body pulsate, as he released his seed inside her.

Exhausted, Lyssa fell asleep. Only to be woken some time later as Ronon took it upon himself to explore her body. Lying on her stomach, she shivered as his hands and mouth moved across her shoulders and continued down her spine. Over her buttocks and down her thighs, her calves, then he made his way back up, lingering over her buttocks, she suddenly yelped as he nipped her buttock.

"This looks bigger than I remember." She heard him say. Affronted, she quickly spun round to confront him, only to see him laughing at her, she'd done exactly what he wanted her to do, now she was in the position he wanted her in.

"You..." She said, Ronon covered her mouth with his own, stopping her from saying anything else.

She could feel his erection against her stomach and, when he lifted his mouth to look at her she deliberately looked down and said.

"Looks much smaller than I remember." She could feel Ronon's body jerking as he laughed.

"That tends to happen on a starvation diet." He managed to say between laughs. "Why do you think I'm so hungry now." He said biting his way along her shoulder. "I can ask Weir tomorrow about letting you stay here." He told her, feeling the tension that suddenly stiffened her body. He lifted his head up and looked down at her face.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I can't stay, Ronon, not yet." She whispered, she felt him tense, felt his arms tightening around her. She hated breaking the happy mood, but there wasn't anything else she could do.

"Why not?" He wanted to know.

"I owe it to Sean..." She tried to tell him, but Ronon cut her off.

"Surely he'd understand." He said.

"Yes, he'd understand, and he'd probably insist that I stay. But I am not going to ask him." She told him.

Ronon stayed silent, which wasn't always a good sign. She'd rather he screamed and shouted, at least then she had an idea of what he was thinking.

"Alright, I'm listening, tell me why you can't stay." Ronon asked, very reluctantly.

"Short version," she said then proceeded to tell him "Sean's sister was kidnapped by traders, Sean was trying to trace her whereabouts. I got in to a little trouble, and Sean, who happened to be passing at the time, came to the rescue. And in doing so he lost a vital lead on locating his sister. I promised him I'd help him to find her."

She knew Ronon would understood her promise, and why she felt compelled to help Sean, but would he accept it. She felt him squeezing her, almost too tightly, she winced as her ribs protested at the pressure.

"How close do you think you are to locating Sean's sister." Ronon asked, indicating that he understood why she couldn't stay at the moment.

"Pretty close actually, Sean has a contact who knows which group of traders took his sister. So as soon as we finish here, hopefully we should be on our way to finding her."

"Then you'll be coming back here?" He said, making it sound like an order.

"Yes, then I'll be coming back here." She confirmed.

"You'd better make sure you do." He growled. Then proceeded to show her exactly what she would be missing while they were apart.

Lyssa was surprised at how easy it had been to banished the painful memories from the past. But they'd done it, admittedly, most of the banishing had been done in bed, but whatever worked, she thought. They acted like they'd never been apart, and it felt like they'd never been apart. She wasn't sure how they would get through the next few weeks, but this was something she had to do.

----------

Ronon and Lyssa were walking towards the Gate room, but, just before they reached it, Ronon pulled Lyssa out on to one of the balconies. Holding her tightly in his arms he feverishly, began to kiss her.

"I can't let you go." He whispered, between kisses.

"I don't want to go." She admitted, Ronon pulled his head back and looked at her, hopefully, she closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest. "But I have to."

"You can't leave me like this." He told her, pushing his hips against her stomach, letting her feel how hard he was.

"Ronon," She groaned, "It's only been half an hour." She said, squirming her abdomen against him.

"I don't care how long it's been, I need you, now. I don't know how long it will be before I see you again, you can't deny me." He told her, almost pleaded.

"Someone might come." She said, looking over at the doorway.

"We can go round here." He said, pulling her around the corner. The balcony was shaped like a letter L.

Ronon pushed her back against the waist high balcony wall, kissed her, then started to pushed her pants down.

"Turn around, and rest your arms on the wall." He told her.

Lyssa did as he asked and felt him pushing her pants further down, she trembled when she felt Ronon rubbing his erection against her, gasped, as he entered her.

"Ronon..."

"Shh." He whispered, as he leaned over her back and placed his hands on the wall either side of her. He took things slow, pulling back, pushing forward, the momentum, the friction, felt so delicious. Lyssa turned her head to the side, Ronon covered her mouth with his, kissed her deeply. He moved his hand from the wall and placed it on her stomach, began stroking across her skin, moving down, he reached between her thighs. She practically jumped when Ronon began stroking his fingers over the hidden nub, she felt so sensitive.

Ronon increased the pace of his thrusts, felt himself getting even deeper, He didn't want it to end, wanted it to go on as long as possible, but he knew it couldn't. He felt Lyssa's body tighten on him, felt her body shaking, he pulled her closer and held her, waited till the tremors eased, then he took his own release, felt his body pulsate and explode.

Ronon reluctantly parted his body from hers, still holding her he pulled her backwards, when his legs touched the seat behind him, he sat down pulling her on to his lap.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Hmm." she murmured, totally exhausted, physically and mentally. "I don't think I can walk." She admitted, quietly.

"Right at this moment, neither could I." He laughed.

"I don't think I'm ever going to reach this Gate."

"That would suit me fine." He told her, wishing that she didn't have to go.

Eventually they made it to the Stargate, where Sean and Sheppard were waiting.

"It's about time too." Sheppard said, looking at his watch, as if to calculate how long they had been.

Ronon immediately walked over to Sean and gave him a hard intimidating stare.

"You had better make sure nothing happens to her." He told Sean in a slightly threatening tone. "And don't let her try any more harebrained stunts."

"I wasn't the one who showed her the harebrained stunt in the first place." Sean told Ronon, taking no notice to his intimidating stare.

The Stargate was activated and Sean walked towards it.

Ronon took a chain from around his neck with his dog tags on and placed it over Lyssa's head.

"I want them back." He told her.

Lyssa looked at Ronon, her eyes full of longing, and with some reluctance she turned and entered the Stargate. Leaving a forlorn looking Ronon behind.

Ronon left the Gate room, he needed some time alone. Sheppard who was going in the same direction was just behind Ronon. As Ronon passed a number of storage boxed Sheppard saw him smash his fist into one of them, creating a huge dent in the box.

"I'd shoot it if I were you, make sure it's dead." Sheppard said, jokingly.

This little comment earned him a killing look from Ronon. Sheppard realised that it probably wasn't the best time to bait Ronon.

"By next week she'll probably be back here." Sheppard said trying to make him feel better.

"She'd better be." Ronon said, and walked away, leaving Sheppard standing there.

That's all we need, Sheppard thought, a week of Ronon running around in a bad mood, and frustrated as hell.

The End...

TBC...REUNIONS (Behind the Mask-Sequel)


End file.
